Times Are Strange
by Vilmarix
Summary: Namikaze Minato, an ANBU Captain is rescued from an ambush by a mysterious blonde shinobi. Who is this man? Why does he feel drawn to him? What makes him so special? Timetravel, Shounen-ai, NaruMina. Rating for bad words and some situations.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing... Sad isn't it?

**Warnings**

Near Rape (Well I think it is)

Shounen-Ai (I can't write Yaoi yet)

Incest- NaruMina (UkeMina SemeNaru)

* * *

**Times Are Strange **

**Chapter One**

"This cannot be happening." Namikaze Minato thought as he found himself perfectly immobile by what seemed to be poison.

The young ANBU Captain and his team were returning after a S-rank mission. It had consisted of an assassination of some high powered businessmen that had managed to somehow get some information on Konoha's defence. The mission was successful until they were ambushed by some missing nin. They wore no headbands, so he could not tell which hidden village they originated from and they hid their faces by some masks.

Due to chakra exhaustion and the element of surprise, his team were killed, but they took most of their enemies with them. Soon only Minato remained and two other missing nin. He was about to move for the final strike when he found his entire body not listening to his commands. Thus, he fell to the floor paralysed.

This was when he felt the pinch of a senbon on his neck. He tried to assess the situation. He could feel but he couldn't move a single muscle. He thought he was going to die, but it seemed that fate was too cruel and wouldn't even allow that.

"Such a waste to just kill you now, let's have some fun." One nin said, taking off his ANBU mask.

Minato could feel his heart hammering against his chest as the two nin tore at his already ripped clothes. He knew the protocol to follow upon sexual assault, but no training had ever mentioned or prepared them for the humiliation that one would experience in the situation.

'Rule number twenty five,' he chanted in his head. He was not going to give them the pleasure of reacting.

He could feel everything. He could hear everything. He could see everything.

'Rule number twenty five'

Those rough hands, they tugged, pulled, pinched. They burnt against his skin.

'Rule number twenty five'

The two tongues as they licked, bit, sucked. He felt dirty

'Rule number twenty five'

Those two faces burned themselves into his memory. He could hear the moans and groans that made his stomach churn. If he wasn't paralysed he would have thrown up. He could feel the tears prickling his eyes. That was odd… he had tear ducts?

'_Rule number twenty five!'_

He closed his eyes. He will not break here. Not now, not ever.

But there is a limit for everyone. He felt himself being roughly placed into another sexual position. This one was more embarrassing than the last. Earlier he was placed in a sitting down position with his legs spread open. Now he was kneeling with his ass up and face firmly placed on the floor like some common submissive whore.

"Now isn't that a sight!"

Minato let out a silent scream.

"Now it's rude Konoha-kun, that you aren't hard, after all the attention we gave you."

'_Gave to me? You forced it on me'_

"Well that doesn't matter, by the time we finish with you, you'll be cumming and still be rock hard."

And that's when the prodding began. Minato winced inwardly as he felt a finger shoved into him. His heart was ramming into his chest. Maybe, he thought, it'll burst and I'll die and escape this torture. Then he felt the now fingers leave him and something much larger poke at his opening. He panicked. He tried to move but he couldn't, he couldn't even scream. He couldn't do anything, but squeeze his eyes shut as he felt tears leak out.

He waited, but the pain didn't come.

'Was this some new form of torture that fate had given him? Slowing everything down, making it much worse?'

Then suddenly, he felt warm liquid on his bare body. He thought it was a release of one of his attackers when the scent hit him - the familiar coppery odour that had been his constant companion since the day he became chunin.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the head of one of his attackers separated from his body, his blood staining the forest grass. His body was drenched in blood, hinting that the other nin was dead too. Minato strained his eyes trying to search for the new arrival, but he couldn't feel any chakra or hear anything.

Then a black cloth fell onto the floor spread out, and he felt himself being lifted and carried out of the embarrassing position gently, then placed on the cloth.

After the blood rush, his eyes were still focusing and he drew a sharp breath.

"Easy, I will not harm you." A low warm baritone greeted him, the voice making him relax. It reminded him of the Sandaime and had the quality of a Hokage - calm and soothing.

When his eyes focused, he was greeted by the sight of a man. He must have been his age or older. He had tan skin and spiky blonde hair very much like his own, but it was longer and brushed the joint of his neck and his shoulders. He was heavily built and seemed the heavy combat type. But then again, he had stealth and could hide his chakra extremely well.

He looked at the shinobi's face and took in the well-defined cheek bones and strong jaw. He was clean shaven and was sporting three strange pairs of whisker-like scars on either side of his cheeks. But what really caught his attention, was the shinobi's eyes. They were the colour of his own, but more intense. They had a richer colouring that seemed to glow, and held a hint of purple.

"I will not harm you." The shinobi repeated, locking his intense gaze with his.

Suddenly Minato felt warm, protected like nothing in the world could harm him. But he blinked away those feelings and forced himself to feel caution.

While holding the gaze, he felt the cloth being wrapped tightly around his body covering him.

Warily, Minato felt around for the nin's chakra. It was different - free, alive and powerful. He could feel it pulsing and flowing. Minato had never come across anything like this in his short life in Konoha or anywhere else before. Even the Hokage's chakra wasn't like this - powerful, yes, but not alive.

That was when he realised that the ninja was bathing him in his chakra. This was used by jounin-sensei's on their genin teams to wash away the after effect of their first time exposure to killing intent. The shinobi was using it to wash away the feeling of shock and to remove the effects of chakra exhaustion. It was effective, save for the fact that the technique cost a lot of chakra, but by judging by the look of the shinobi he didn't seem to notice.

"There are more shinobi arriving from Iwa and heading this way."

He spoke slowly and looked directly at Minato, before picking him up and jumping away from the area.

* * *

Minato looked at the blonde again, they were travelling at high speed and the man didn't seem to be showing any signs of fatigue or slowing down. Looking at the sun, they seemed to be travelling towards Konoha, and it was evening.

It was night when the shinobi stopped at a small stream that ran by a cliff. He was placed down near the stream and the shinobi spoke,

"The poisons effect should be over by now."

'How did he know?' Minato thought looking at him, as his plan to fake paralysis so he could let the shinobi underestimate him, went out of the window. By doing so he could easily overwhelm him using the element of surprise and find out what he wanted that way.

The shinobi smiled at his confused look, which he cursed for letting appear on his face. He saw him take out a scroll and release something. It was a pile of shinobi clothes.

"Sorry if they are a little too loose," the shinobi said, before he bowed and turned away towards the cliff wall.

Minato felt a surge of panic flood his system at the thought of this shinobi leaving him. Why? Why was he feeling like this? Shouldn't he be relived? He didn't understand. But those thoughts and feeling were calmed down at the words,

"I'm going to set up camp; I won't be far, just in there." And he pointed to a random section of the cliff wall.

Minato watched him walk towards it and then disappear behind it. That's when he realised that the rock walls overlapped each other creating a natural hideout and defence.

'How did he know about it not us?' They were now in fire country and half a day's trip from Konoha.

Shaking his head, he classified those thoughts as 'ask later' and did a chakra scan of the area. Satisfied that no one was around, began to strip, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the smell. The other blonde was awfully polite not to comment on it and just subtly hint to have a wash.

He was covered in dried blood, saliva and who knows what other fluids. The wounds from his 'attack' were now inflamed and swollen. There were hand prints on his chest and hips. He must look like Jiraiya-sensei after being dealt with Tsunade-sama.

Smiling slightly at the thought, he got into the stream. The blood came off, but not the grime or the feeling that he was filthy. Sighing, he reached for the pile of clothes the shinobi had left him. When he pulled out the shirt, a small travel bar of scentless shinobi soap fell onto the grass. Letting a grateful smile appear on his face at the thoughtfulness of the other blonde shinobi, he returned to his washing.

Once he was satisfied he was clean, Minato dressed in the borrowed clothes. They were a size or two big like the shinobi had said, but not baggy. They also held the same scent of the other blonde. He couldn't describe it, but it was similar to the wind on top of the Hokage monument.

'Where had that come from?' He blushed at that thought and shook his head. Unbelievable -the Hokage's most trusted ANBU acting like a Genin rank Kunoichi was just… unbelievable.

Still disturbed at his own thoughts he walked towards the section of the cliff that he saw the other blonde disappear behind. In his arms he carried the now damp cloak which he had washed in the stream with the remaining soap. Treading cautiously and expecting an attack, he entered the cave though the hidden entrance. One could not be too careful after all.

The sheer size of the cave took him aback. The cave was larger than what he had imagined it to be - much larger. The inner walls had a glossy surface which reflected the light from the small fire, lighting the entire cave dimly. There were two sleeping bags by the fire and he spotted the blonde sitting on a flat rock prodding the fire lazily.

"Thank you," Minato said handing the damp cloak to the blonde, "But it still needs to dry."

"Leave it on one of those flat rocks." he said gesturing to the one near the fire. Then getting up "I'm gonna have a wash." and walked towards the exit.

Minato sat near the fire, warming himself. The shinobi hadn't left anything around to investigate, save for the sleeping bags and he check those for traps, seals and poisons. He searched the cave for anything that could lead to any harm. Only a genjutsu to hide them and some seals that would alert them if anyone other than them stepped within ten feet of them.

Minato did an assessment on the ninja. Skill wise, he was a strong shinobi, definitely above jounin. He was very skilled in sealing and had high chakra reserves but possibly only moderate chakra control due to the genjutsu which was not powerful. Personality wise he seemed friendly, but one never knows.

Minato's musing was cut short when he saw the other blonde arrive. He was dressed in new attire and his hair was still damp - or at least he assumed so as it was less spiky.

Sitting across from each other, they ate ration bars in silence, watching the flames dance lazily. Then Minato broke the silence,

"What do you want from me or Konoha?" No better way of asking than straight.

The shinobi looked at him in surprise and then amusement before replying, "Nothing."

Minato shot him a look of 'I don't believe you'.

The shinobi laughed, "Yeah, it's pretty hard to believe."

"Then why did you help me, do all of this and head towards Konoha?"

"You seemed to be in a tight spot and I have hero complex. I also want to join Konoha."

"Why?"

The shinobi smiled, but this time it was sad, tired as if he had seen the endless fighting and was sick of it "That I cannot tell you, it's something only the Hokage should know."

Minato stared at him, to see if there were any hints to his secret, "May I know your name?"

The shinobi snapped out of his depression and slapped his forehead "Ahhh, sorry about that, I completely forgot, my name is Naruto." He grinned. Minato couldn't help but smile back.

"Yours?" Naruto asked, Minato sent him a questioning glance. Most shinobi's knew who he was due to his reputation in the bingo books. So he carefully answered,

"Minato."

"Namikaze Minato?" Minato nodded, so the blonde knew or at least had heard of him.

"So you're the bastard that everyone keeps mistaking me for!"

Minato was stumped. He didn't expect that. He was ready for awe, fear, hostility, worshipping or no reaction at all… even a smug reply on how the great Namikaze Minato got into such a humiliating position and had to get rescued like some damsel in distress. But instead he got good natured laughing and calling him a bastard.

"Do you know how much of trouble I got into because of you?" Naruto continued chuckling, "Now I know why Iwa nins attacked me on sight and rabid women tried to jump me... a lot."

Minato couldn't help it, he broke out chuckling the mental image was too funny to resist and the infectious laughter from the other end didn't help either.

But he did notice the similarity between him and the other blonde - the same colouring for one. The main difference was that Naruto was heavier built and taller, while he was leaner. He would never admit it, but Minato had a more effeminate look in comparison to Naruto.

"I'm sorry for the inconveniences you had to face." Minato said in an amused tone.

"Naah, I don't mind it much. Just there is a limit and women don't understand that." Minato chuckled.

"Do you have family name, Naruto-san?"

Minato could practically feel the mood drop. "Yeah, I do but I choose not to use it anymore."

"Why?" He had to get some information.

He got no answer but the same sad smile. Naruto didn't even look at him. He seemed to be gazing off into the fire but Minato knew that Naruto wasn't even here. He knew that look. He had seen in it upon so many fellow shinobis' faces when they were looking at the memorial stone.

To Minato that look told him enough. This was a shinobi who had lost everything and wanted nothing but to start a new life. The want to join a village and choice of not using the family name were the hints he needed. Minato secretly admired the blonde for the mental and emotional strength to pick oneself up and move on after everything you knew, believed in and lived for had been taken away from you.

"You've lost your village." It sounded so blunt.

Naruto's eyes widened for a fraction of a second and his head snapped towards Minato in surprise. Then he let out an uncharacteristically sad sigh of defeat and went back to poking the fire. That was Minato's answer.

He watched as the shinobi poked the flames. His grip was so tight that his entire hand was white, and his jaw was clenched so hard Minato could practically hear the teeth being grounded. His eyes seemed narrowed to slits and his other hand was clenched into a fist and his entire body seemed be trembling with anger… but he was still sad.

Minato blinked at the realisation.

Naruto was feeling guilty.

Only one person in an entire village would feel guilt of that level, at the destruction of their village.

"You're a Kage."

"Okay! Enough talk for one night, see you in the morning. Don't bother with the shift taking the seals are enough. Good night!" And he picked the nearest sleeping bag and fell asleep with his back facing the fire and Minato.

The obvious attempt at changing the subject and abrupt ending told him two things. One, he hit the nail on the head and two, he seemed to have inherited Jiraiya's lack of tact at stating something bad. Severely regretting ignoring the other blondes wishes to not speak about the matter, he stood up, bowed and said,

"Forgive me, I shouldn't have-" He was cut off before he could finish.

"It's fine. Just go to bed." Minato winced at the tone. It wasn't cold but it wasn't warm either. He knew that he had crossed the line. Cursing his stupidity and big mouth, he crawled into his sleeping bag and gave one last look at the other figure before falling asleep.

* * *

**A/N:** So what ya think? Good? Bad? or Unclassified?... Well I'm still in the green area with this entire concept, specially romance sector... so give me some advice and constructive criticism please...

15th June 2011, I would like to thank DreamsOfStories for her hard work in betaing this chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N: **I would like to thank you all for the reviews, they really help get my procrastinating ass to do some work. Also guys heads up, I'm new to this site (joined in April) and writing so I beg of you whatever you are expecting from this story, please lower the level (Screw that! Lower it all the way down!) cause I don't want to disappoint you guys. English is my third language so I apologise in advance for bad grammar, odd sounding sentences, typos and misuse of punctuation (still haven't gotten a beta reader. Anyone interested?). Thank you, and enjoy!

**Warnings**

Unbeta (Yeah I know)

Shounen-Ai (This is going to be a slow development)

Incest- NaruMina

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Two**

The next day a little past noon, the blond duo had arrived at the gates of Konoha.

Minato glanced at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. Was this a good idea? To let an unknown shinobi of Kage level into their village was purely illogical and insane. But then again, they would need all the help they could get and all the allies they could make for they were a few steps away from war unleashing with Iwa. The shinobi was a Seal master, he had large chakra reserves and a possibility an encyclopaedia of powerful ninjutsu. Having him on their side would certainly tip the scales to their favour.

After they cleared the necessary paperwork, the two went to the Hokage residence where Naruto requested an audience and Minato had to submit a mission report and brief the Sandaime about the meeting with Naruto. After the briefing, Minato glanced hesitantly at the door knowing that once he let the blond in, there was no going back.

He normally would just let the shinobi go through the standard procedure that consisted of an appointment with Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force and an extensive background check to declare him safe, and only then he would be greeted by the Hokage. The interrogator had informed him that there was no intent of causing harm to Konoha, but anything related to his background the shinobi was very vague or didn't answer at all instead replying, that only the Hokage is allowed to know that information. In short, he failed the screening.

When Naruto entered the room he felt a wave of nostalgia flood his entire system. The old man seemed to be eternal in his mind. The only difference was he looked a lot less tired, unburden and younger; obviously for he was about twenty-nine years in the past. But the air around him remained the same. The grandfatherly but regal atmosphere was nothing but a bittersweet memory.

"Hokage-sama, I would like to have a word in private."

Sarutobi waved off his secretary and Minato leaped out of the window. But Naruto smiled when he felt his father's chakra joined the other three entities hidden in the room. He really didn't have to be ANBU to know that they were in the room. Ever since he was a baby he knew that they were hidden in the room even though he couldn't sense their chakra then. Now he had to applaud them especially his father's for managing to practically erase their chakra signatures. He chuckled, if he hadn't trained to since birth to sense chakra signature he would have missed them.

"In private, Hokage-sama" he repeated quite amused, when he saw Jiji's face flicker in surprise, then suspicion and the slight flare of all four chakra signature above him.

Sarutobi looked over the man again. One would scream that this Naruto character and Minato were clones at first glance. But a closer look would tell you they had to be related. Due to the report give by Minato, Sarutobi decided to give the man the benefit of doubt and if he could convince the by-the-rule ANBU captain prodigy, he had to be telling some truth. So he prayed that he placed his faith in the correct decision and activated the silencing seals.

Naruto smiled when he saw the old man activate the silencing seals. The seals could block out all sound that came from either of them and blurred the lips of the speakers within the area, so lip readers were at a loss on what was being said. The old Hokage looked at him to begin the conversation. Grinning he flopped down into the chair which was opposite the Hokage's desk (Baa-chan got rid of it, evil old hag) and began.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, but only very much later I found out it was Namikaze Naruto."

The Sandaime to a long breath from his trusty pipe, "So you are related to Namikaze-Taichou."

"Yeah."

"How?"

"Father and son."

The Sandaime blinked and Naruto sighed.

"Sandaime Hokage it is a pleasure to meet you again, I'm the Nanadaime Hokage."

"..."

"Breath Jiji, breath."

"Prove it."

Naruto grinned again, this was one of the reasons he loved the old man. Always level headed and seemed that nothing could faze him. That was before the Sexy Jutsu came into creation, of course.

"Where is your crystal ball, Jiji?"

Sandaime eyebrow rose and Naruto grinned, sighing he unsealed the wanted object. Naruto took the crystal into his right palm and stretched out his arm. The Sandaime's other eyebrow joined the already raised one. It was a guarded secret that viewing crystal ball was also used to share memories. Placing his right palm on top of it the clear crystal which turned black obsidian, he closed his eyes.

Sarutobi opened his eyes and he was greeted of the sight of himself, only older. His older self was teaching him to read a children story book. What kind of relationship did he have with this shinobi? It seemed to be grandparent-grandchild, from the way the man addressed him and the memory.

Scene changed, he was standing on top of a pole that over looked the village. He took in the surrounding. Nothing seemed to have changed, but his eyes widen when he saw the Hokage monument. There was a large gash across his face and two more head were carved into it as well. The fourth looked like Minato and the fifth looked like Tsunade.

Scene changed, he was being yelled at by Tsunade who didn't seem to have aged a single bit. He saw a familiar tuff of gravity defying silver hair and he heard the name Hatake Kakashi being directed to the man. He chuckled, so this was Sakumo's brat all grown up. Then he felt a large hand ruffle his hair. Looking up he saw his perverted student, Jiraiya. He then heard the man call him his student.

The scene changed again he was walking up the stair to the roof top of the Hokage residence. He could hear the cries of the people, calling him to come out. He heard the name Namikaze Naruto and he walked to the railing. He saw the entire population both civilian and shinobi cheer for him. Looking at the building he frowned, everything was new. All the infrastructure didn't seem to be even a year old. Then everything faded to black.

He opened his eyes and he saw Naruto spinning the crystal ball on his index finger, looking bored. He took another long breath from his pipe, savouring the tobacco.

"So, Tsunade became Hokage?"

"Pretty much, yeah." he resealed the crystal

"With a henge."

"Women's vanity."

They both let out a chuckle. Then Sarutobi took another puff from his pipe looking serious he spoke,

"Minato says you lost your village."

"Yeah."

"How did that happen?"

"A series of events."

Sarutobi looked at him, which meant 'explain'.

"One from the Rennigan, one from Uchiha Madara and finally one from a revenge driven idiotic teammate of mine."

The pipe clattered to the floor.

"Madara is dead."

"And Jiraiya is gay."

Picking up his pipe "So what do you plan to do."

"Make sure that it never happens"

"Sounds tedious."

"Never had it any other way."

Sarutobi went back puffing his pipe and Naruto was inspecting his fingernails. He studied the Sandaime who had an amused glint in his eye which led to the feeling as if impending doom had been thrust upon his being.

"So you'll be staying here." Sandaime broke the silence refilling his pipe.

"That the plan."

"You'll need a new identity."

"I'll keep my given name, readjusting to anything else would be too hard and I cannot blow my cover, but clan name is no go."

"Think of some name not from shinobi ancestry."

"Kazama."

"Good name."

"Kazama Naruto, got a nice ring to it."

"Fill the paper work, also what rank do you want?"

"Jounin-Sensei, always wanted to teach a bunch of brats."

"Why not go for apprenticeship? Still get to teach some brats and less chance of getting your cover blown, kids these days are very curious." Another glint.

"Your planning something isn't, you old man?"

"No I'm not, just looking out for you."

"I don't believe you."

"Not my problem, I'm Hokage now. So you do as I say."

"Hypocrite." Naruto coughed out 'Didn't you preach to me about how not to abuse power?'

"So I'll classify all your origins under SS-rank secret?"

"Good choice."

"How are you related to Kushina?"

"Mother, where is she?"

"Hospital, the Kyuubi disappeared and she is very weak and has to adjust with it not being in her. Good thing she didn't have it sealed in her until she was a child otherwise she wouldn't have survived the sudden disappearance, so I'm guessing it is in you"

"Yeah Fuzzy is in me, sleepy and tired"

"That also SS-rank?"

"Please."

The Sandaime deactivated the silencing seals and summoned the secretary to submit the paperwork in.

"Welcome to Konoha Kazama-san, we hope that having you here will augment the strength we already have."

"Thank you Hokage-sama, I hope so too."

"You better, otherwise I'll have you kicked out for being incompetent"

"How rude."

"You were a Kage. Deal with it."

Naruto laughed and got up to leave. Just as he was going to leave the Hokage's office he realised,

"Jiji, where am I going to stay?"

"Twenty-seven seconds."

"What?"

"It took you twenty-seven seconds to figure out that I didn't give you any accommodation. How in five nations did a gaki like you become Kage? Even more so, at the age of twenty?"

Naruto mumbled something, looking at the floor as if he was kicking some imaginary dust.

Sarutobi looked at the disgruntle blond. He read the paperwork, and found out the shinobi's age was twenty. Prodigy or Tsunade was being irresponsible again and pass over the paperwork for booze. Looking at the ever growing pile on the left of his desk he really didn't blame her.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I became Kage at eighteen, Jiji." Naruto answered acting like a disgruntle child.

Meanwhile a certain ANBU Captain in the roof of the Hokage's office was acting like fish out of water. Sending a small prayer to Kami for the little things in life like the masks the ANBU had to wear. _'Kage at eighteen?'_ his mind screeched. Sure he was seventeen and he made captaincy, just a few weeks after his birthday. But this was plain ridiculous. Even his team was irked as well.

Minato evaluated the man again. Nothing seemed to make sense. There were so many questions. How did he know about the crystal ball? Only the Hokage's personal ANBU Protection Squad and students knew about it. What did the Hokage see that made him trust this man to completely relax in this man's presence? Minato knew that the Sandaime never relaxed, save for Jiraiya-sensei, Tsunade-sama and his family. How is this man so familiar with the Hokage that they address each other so casually? Gaki and Jiji? _Seriously! _Mentally shaking his head he continued to watched the scene below between the Professor and the Blond Enigma.

"Jiji, not there! It 'sounds' like a crappy place to live in" Naruto whined. The third applauded at the subtle hint.

"Gaki! Stop complaining! You don't have probation, be grateful for what you have." Sarutobi snapped throwing a paperweight at him, which Naruto effectively caught before it hit his head (the paperweight and his head have been good friends during Baa-chan's office reign) and placed it back on the pile of papers. Then an evil grin appeared on his face.

"Jiji."

"What!"

"How about a deal?"

Sandaime eyed him wearily, he wasn't Tsunade but he wasn't a good one either.

Naruto taking the silence as a yes and continued, "You give me a good place to live and I tell you how to do paperwork without having to actually do it."

"Fine, Kitsune." The Hokage called out, his eyes' never leaving Naruto's.

Naruto glanced at the ANBU that appeared in front of him. Recognising the familiar mop of blond hair and chakra, he had only one thought running through his head,

'I wish Kyuubi could see this right now.'

"Naruto" Sandaime's voice snapped him out of his amused thoughts, "Namikaze Minato, live in an apartment complex that has one flat free. Kitsune will take you there."

Naruto nodded.

"Now out with it gaki."

"Jiji, One little technique called Shadow Clone." He replied cheekily and grabbed the ANBU by the waist and jumped out of the window. They were followed by a very frustrated scream and the paperweight, which Naruto caught. Again.

Landing on the roof top of one of nearby building, he placed the ANBU down. Then looked at the Hokage window and commented,

"All those years as Hokage and he didn't figure that out." throwing the paperweight back and got a scroll thrown back in return, which held the kanji for 'Gaki'.

ANBU Captain Namikaze Minato didn't speak. Mainly due to the fact he couldn't trust his voice. That brief moment he was carried out by the blond shinobi, he could practically feel the warmth of the other shinobi radiated and the well defined hard tone muscle through the navy blue long sleeve turtle-neck sweater. And the blood return to his face again. 'What is this?' he mentally screamed, why was he so flustered with this shinobi?

His musing was cut short, when he was startled by a pair of blue eyes peering through the holes of his ANBU mask into his own. Blushing once more he took a small step back.

"Is anybody in there?" Naruto called tapping the forehead of the mask with is finger.

"Yes." Minato grounded out.

"Don't tell me you're pissed that I manhandled you out of the Hokage's window."

"..."

"Look I'm sorry, but would you rather have been facing the Hokage's wrath? Trust me I know I won't. Dealing with disgruntle old Kages are my area of expertise."

"This way Kazama-san" and Minato jumped.

"Lead the way Kitsune-chan" Naruto called out and got a kunai thrown in his direction as his response. Catching it, he followed the ANBU.

"Fiesty, I like 'em that way" he chuckled, unaware on how red the blond Captain became in response to the comment made. Instead the only visible reaction he got was a hail of shurikens. Blocking them all with the kunai, he mumbled "What is it with throwing stuff at the new shinobi, some hospitality you guys have."

They arrived at a large complex. It wasn't fancy or large, but it was new, clean, spacious and well maintained. It was a million times better than his old place, but then again anything was better than his old place. Entering the four story building, Naruto saw Minato speak with the landlord. There were a total of nine apartments. Apartment one, was on ground floor and then it goes up in twos. When the ANBU finished he followed blond up the flight of stairs. When they reached the top level Minato handed him the key.

He was in apartment number nine.

'Why do I feel like this number is following me?'

"Thank you" Minato nodded and left.

Opening the door, he inspected the place. Two bedrooms with a bathroom each. Living room and kitchen were connected with a counter top. He had a balcony, a room for the washing machine and private area to hang out his laundry. The floor was tiled white and the walls were coloured white as well. Once he gets his hands on a bucket of paint he was colour it orange. But all-round it was a nice place to live in, just too clean. Only thing left to do was to inhabit it.

Opening the scroll Jiji gave him. He found out that the old man bought him the apartment, so no rent, given him some cash for furnishing and informed him that he had a week to settle in before he was called in for active duty. Sighing he burnt the scroll, he hated being in debt to anyone. Naruto brought most of his personal belongings with him and he brought some cash as well. Guess he had to pay back the Old Man slowly.

He walked out of his apartment and locked his door. He glanced at his neighbour's door. 'Wonder what kind of person he or she is?' hopefully good and easy to get along with. That's when his eyes fell on the name plate.

Namikaze Minato.

'Shit, Fuzzy is not gonna like this.'

* * *

**A/N: **So what ya think? Did I disappoint you? Or is it the other way around? Please give me a verdict. Special thanks to Rabbit Pie and Osprey Eamon.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N:** I would like to thank all of you guys for reviewing, they gave me great motivation to type this chapter. Sorry if anyone seems out of character and odd sounding sentences.

**Warnings**

Shounen- Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed (only grammar, hey I improved)

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Three**

Naruto spent his week, doing exactly what he planned to do. He bought the necessary furniture, clothes, equipment, cutlery and crockery. He painted one wall in his living/kitchen room and his bedroom a burnt autumn orange, to remove the whiteness. While dressed in black shinobi pants and rust coloured long sleeved T-shirt, he went shopping for a week's groceries quite happy with his seven day holiday.

While a certain Captain following him was not.

Namikaze Minato was far from happy. He had practically stalked the man's every waking moment and used a Kage Bunshin to keep an eye on him during the time he was asleep. And still he found nothing. Absolutely nothing.

_Flashback_

_After he had dropped the blonde shinobi at his new residence he returned to the office. Upon his return, the Sandaime motioned for him to come near him._

"_Kitsune, I'm sure you want to know about Kazama-san?"_

_Minato nodded._

"_Well can't tell you a lot of it since most of his past and origins are SS-ranked" Minato's eyes widened, SS-rank secrets means that only the Hokage will know them._

"_But I can tell you this, to put your mind at ease." the Sandaime pause, as if contemplating __whether__ or not to tell him._

"_He is Jiraiya's student."_

_Minato's eyes widened, 'Sensei took another student?'_

"_I would like you to summon a messenger toad, because I need Jiraiya's presence to confirm he is of no threat to Konoha and loyal." The Sandaime cut in before he could ask any questions._

"_Hai, Hokage-sama" and he summoned Kosuke._

"_Hiya boss!" the young toad waved at Minato._

"_Kosuke, I need to deliver this to Jiraiya immediately say it's urgent. If he asks for the priority level of this summoning, say that Tsunade is giving birth to his child." The Hokage gave a scroll to the young red toad._

"_Righto!" and the summon 'poofed'._

"_Also" the Sandaime continued looking at Minato, "I read your report, I won't be sending you out for some time." 'You need time to grieve for your comrades and overcome the shock of your incident.' Sarutobi added mentally._

_Minato didn't reply vocally, but his presence became agitated. Signalling he received and understood the inaudible input as well. _

"_On that note you mentioned that you went through the protocol to get the shinobi screened, but you didn't talk about the visiting the hospital or a medic nin."_

"_There was no time Hokage-sama, for the shinobi's screening took a longer time than average and he was adamant for an immediate audience with you." The Hokage inwardly cringed, the teen sounded so detached and apathetic. _

"_You could have gone when he was being screened."_

"_Yes Hokage-sama, but I didn't sustain life threatening injuries and this was Kage level ninja so I chose to stay with the I&T to certify no threat would affect Konoha." The boy answer was so monotonous, like it didn't matter, as if it was everyday passing event. _

_The Sandaime pinched the bridge of his nose. How, why and what made Jiraiya teach someone so logical, obedient and law abiding? His student was the direct opposite of the blonde in front of him. _

_Standing up Sandaime walked to the window with his back turned to the captain "Putting those matters aside I have another mission." The old Hokage continued "It's more of a personal mission." He paused for a moment looking at the village._

"_I know you don't believe that Kazama-san is loyal or not dangerous. So I want you to observe him for this week. I gave him a week to settle down and relax. Also I told him that he has no probation, which means his guard should be down."_

_Minato nodded and was about to begin his task immediately when the Sandaime spoke,_

"_I want you... No, I order you to go to hospital and get yourself examined before you begin this mission."_

_He nodded in response again and flickered out. _

_Flashback end _

Minato sighed heavily as he half heartedly followed the man home. Watching as the man waved back at the elderly and children he passed by. Minato found out from his week of shadowing the blonde was that Kazama Naruto was an extremely optimistic, happy-go-lucky, likeable person, who seemed genuine with his actions and there was something about him made people drawn towards him. The type of person Jiraiya-sensei would like to train.

The teen watched as Naruto interacted animatedly with an elderly couple. He frowned at this; he remembered when the shinobi first interacted with any civilian. At first he almost seemed startled by the hospitality of the shop keeper or vendors and surprised at the smiles the civilian greeted him with. 'Interesting.'

As Minato followed the blonde to his apartment he mull over how he interacted with Naruto. He didn't understand why he was so expressive with other shinobi. Earlier when he first met the blonde and conversation in the cave he thought it was just the after effects of the 'event' that make him so open, but the very next day when they arrived to Konoha he couldn't think of a logical reason. What made him act that way towards him?

After dropping the groceries at his apartment, Naruto went for a stroll. It was late afternoon and he had some time to kill. He mentally sighed when he felt his constant companion. Honestly, what was it going to take to convince the teen that he was loyal? He knew his father was many things, but the paranoia was news to him.

He unsurprisingly found himself in the third training ground. Mainly out of habit from his previous life. Glancing at the stumps he smiled sadly at the memories they brought. Lazily he walked towards a memorial stone and at each he took closer towards the stone the shinobi's chakra signature was becoming more and more easy to detect. When he reached the foot of the stone he noticed that the amount of names on the slab was significantly less. Hopefully he could keep it that way in the future. Then his eyes caught sight of two new inscriptions on the monument and spoke,

"These are your teammates, aren't they?"

He felt the shinobi's chakra flare significantly.

"Why not come and talk to them?"

"You knew I was there the whole time." He saw Minato appear behind him in an offensive stance, his right hand held a kunai.

"You became noticeable when I approached the memorial stone." He answered coolly keeping a calmed expression while he looked at the masked shinobi.

When Naruto saw Minato relax the grip of his kunai, he turned back the stone.

"You know we had one of these in my Village and my Jounin-sensei was known for being late for any sort of meeting. When my teammate and I got fed up of yelling at him for being late we began to investigated and found him spending his time talking to it. It was his form of grieving and receiving closure."

'Why is he telling me this?' Minato wondered as he watch the blonde speak, by mistake he open his mouth and,

"A true ninja should never show emotion." Came a bitter reply.

Naruto blinked. His father was a rule abiding, well behaved shinobi? And he was disappointed that he couldn't be the perfect ninja? Something was so dearly wrong here.

"Wrong" Naruto spoke out, using a little more force in his voice than intended.

It was Minato's turn to blink, "But the rules state-"

"You are wrong" Naruto repeated cutting him off, he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. How was he going to get this message across?

"True, rules and regulations are important to stop us going wild and to increase the success rate of a mission." He admitted grudgingly after calming down, "But don't follow them to the letter or take them literally. They are there to guide you, not to rule you. Bend them to fit the situation so you can handle and adjust to it. Not the other way around."

"That's just idealistic." Minato commented.

"Well you forget that idealism made me Kage at eighteen, remember? I'd like to see where you are at that age." Naruto shot back.

Minato remained silent. Naruto turned around to face him "Personally, I always believed that rules would never make me a true ninja. So I found my own way, to never give up."

He walked towards Minato, who didn't move and placed a hand slowly on his shoulder, which the teen flinched involuntarily in response at the contact. But Naruto didn't remove his hand "We shinobi have to learn to control our emotions, we shouldn't get rid of them. It's part of being human. Emotions form bonds, and those bonds help us become strong. They give us something to fight for, something to cherish, something to protect."

Looking at the stone, "A friend once told me, when a person has something important they want to protect that's when they can become truly strong."

Then he turned back at Minato, "Cherish the bonds you have and remember the one you had. That's their legacy." He gestured to the memorial stone and continued, "So stop trying to be the perfect ninja and instead try being a true one."

Looking away, "Also don't go bottling everything up cause it's not going to help. We all have a limit and when you reach that edge you're gonna break, everyone does. My advice to you let it all out; you'll find it easier to deal with 'it'." He cryptically finished taking his hand off the other blonde's shoulder he walked away from the stone leaving the other shinobi in his thoughts.

He didn't have to turn around to know that the teen was now on his knees, letting out a string of strangled sobs in front of the memorial stone. Naruto cast a genjutsu to ensure no one would see the prodigious ANBU Captain at his weakest, and left the training ground to give the shinobi some privacy.

Just as he stepped out of the training grounds, a kunoichi who looked around his age wearing a chunin vest greeted him. He didn't recognise brown eyed brunette who had tied her hair in neat bun, but there was something so familiar about her. So he pegged her as one of the ninjas who were killed in the war or the Kyuubi attack.

"Kazama-san?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes?" he replied gently and gave her his usual sunny grin.

Cheeks tinted pink she smiled back and spoke confidently "The Hokage wants you at the office, now."

"Thank you..." he trailed off looking at her expectedly.

The kunoichi blushed in embarrassment and answered hurriedly bowing in apology "Umino Jin, Kazama-san."

Now he recognised her. This was Iruka's mom. 'Wow, what a coincidence.'

"Please call me Naruto. Kazama sounds old." 'Actually it sounds strange.'

"Only if you call me Jin." She shot back.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jin-san." He grinned cheekily, she reminded him a bit of Iruka-sensei. "Walk with me?" he asked gesturing towards the Hokage residence. Nodding she followed him. The two continued at a lazy paced in silence, Naruto let a tiny smile grace his lips. He felt closure to surrogate father through this woman.

"You're quite adapt in knowing your way through Konoha for someone new, Naruto-san." Jin voiced out, breaking the momentary peace.

"Well, I did have week off. So I pretty much figured out how to get from place to place." He answered lazily.

Just then one child from a group of six year olds playing a combination of Hide and Seek and tag, bumped into Naruto.

"Hey watch it kiddo, when you're running look at what you're running towards not away." He chuckled ruffling his spiky brown hair.

"Sorry Ninja-nii-san." The boy rang out.

"Names Naruto, kid."

"Nice to meet you Naru-nii, I'm Morino Ibiki." He answered happily before shooting off again. Leaving one shocked blonde ninja in the dust.

'That was scar-head?' Naruto blinked rapidly trying to get over the fact he met the most talented Head of the ANBU Interrogation Unit, just a few moments ago. 'With hair?'

"Do you have children, Naruto-san?" Jin asked breaking Naruto from his momentary disbelief.

"Ahhh no, why do you ask?" looking surprised, then asked "how about you, Jin-san?" If he calculated correctly Iruka-sensei should be around two.

She laughed at his surprised expression and answered "Just, since you seemed to be good with kids." Naruto smiled at her answer, "and yes I do, a son." She let out a small smile in pride.

"Really?" Naruto mused out.

"Yeah, He is currently at the day care, because his father is on a mission and I teach at the academy and work part time at the Hokage's office." Naruto smiled, it explained her lack of caution around him and what she said. Dealing with children all the time made her see the good in people and knack for reading people's intention. Just like Iruka-sensei.

"What's his name?" he asked even though he knew the answer.

"Iruka." She said having the same look of pride any parent would have upon their child.

"That's a good name." He commented then said "Hope I can meet him soon."

"Matter of fact you can. The day care is just there." She pointed to a brightly coloured house a few feet away from them. Then her mood sank a bit, "But your meeting with the Hokage..." she trailed off.

"He can wait." He replied, he wanted to see his favourite teacher again, even if he was a child.

They walked into the building and Jin spoke energetically with some of the caretakers before running out of sight leaving Naruto at the entrance. She came back carrying a small child with wild brown hair which was brought up into a small spiky ponytail.

"Iru-chan, this is Naruto-san. He is a new ninja, but strong one. Say hello." Jin spoke to him.

"Hello, Naru-san." The child greeted joyfully.

Naruto smiled back but this time it seemed strained. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Iruka." He said looking into wide chocolate eyes.

_Chocolate brown eyes looked at him intently. They were full of pain and weariness. But they told him something silently 'Don't you dare think of giving up.' _

_Naruto could feel the thick warm coppery liquid slowly begin soak his cloths as he held the grievously injured shinobi in his arms. A portion of his left side of his chest was missing. Ripped out. Burnt away. In the background he could hear the sound of chirping and screams. Flashes of lighting appearing from the battlefield illuminated the two men. _

"_I love you, Naruto my son." The man rasped out and his chocolate orbs flutter open one last time before closing._

_The blood was warm, but the body was cold. _

"Are you okay Naruto-san?" Jin voice cut in bringing him back to reality.

Naruto blinked, his eyes resting on Iruka in Jin's arms. Letting a grateful smile he answered, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You seemed to have seen a ghost just a few moments ago. I've been calling your name for a while now but you didn't answer." She pressed on worriedly. Iruka's expression mimicked hers.

"Naru-san not well?"

"No, no, no." He laughed rubbing the back of his neck nervously grinning madly and then said "It's just Iruka-chan here reminded me a lot of someone I once knew."

Then looking at her directly in the eye he said determinedly "Jin-san, I promise you, I will protect this child life with my own."

Jin was going to say something when she heard her name and Iruka's being called from the distance. Turning around she saw her husband running towards her.

"Hiroshi! Tou-san!" the mother and son cried out in return. When she turned her head back to face Naruto, She found herself alone.

"Who was the blonde?" Hiroshi asked her, when he came close enough to take their struggling son out of her arms.

* * *

Naruto let out a heavy breath as he leaned against the wall in a dark alley. He was just few blocks away from the Hokage's office and he needed some time to regain his composure. He didn't expect meeting Iruka-sensei would shake him that much.

"Damn you, Sasuke." He hissed out slamming his fist into the wall behind him. He was too angry to feel the tears run down his face.

* * *

**A/N: **Like it? Hate it? Was justice served? Review, I need to know... Don't worry everything would be reveled in due time, just let me have my fun of keeping you guys in the dark :p... Did Naruto's speech sound inspirational enough? Cause I'm the last one to write something like that... I'm Shikamaru, not Naruto.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews and I'm sorry for the delay. Got held up by other things and life in general. I'll try to keep my updates regular, but I'm not promising you guys anything. Keyword- Try. Anyway enjoy!

**Warnings**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Four**

Upon entering the office he saw the Old Man Hokage sitting behind the desk smoking his pipe, but what made him attentive was the other entity leaning against the windowsill of the office.

It was Jiraiya.

It took all his will power not to leap across the office and embrace the man. There were so many different emotions flowing through his being. Sadness, for his death. Anger, at him for dying and at himself for letting the old perverted bastard die. Fear, that he might not be able to be his student again. But one emotion dominated them all, happiness. Pure undiluted happiness. Thus he allowed a huge grin that nearly split his face to emerge.

Walking towards the Hokage, "You called, Jiji?"

On that note Jiraiya let out a bark of laughter. Naruto studied the man. Indeed he was younger, one could say from his face and build. His spiky white hair was shorter and the red markings were thinner than when he'd first met the perverted sage. There was also an air of confidence, power and vigour. This was Jiraiya Toad Sage at his prime.

"So this is the gaki you were talking about." An amused voice cut in.

"The names Kazama Naruto, Ero-sennin." The Sandaime let out a bark of laughter.

"We both know that's not true, Gaki."

Naruto shot a glance at the silencing seals, once seeing they were activated he continued looking at the Hokage, "So he knows everything, I presume?"

The Sandaime nodded.

"And he needs proof?"

The Hokage nodded again.

"Crystal ball, Jiji."

"I don't want proof that way." Jiraiya cut in before the Hokage went to unseal the crystal ball from its scroll. "I want you to prove you are my student, my way gaki." looking intently at Naruto.

Naruto allowed his grin to turn predatory, he was itching for a fight and he seemed like he was going to get one. So he casually asked "Training Ground Seven?"

"Meet you in five." Jiraiya answered and flickered out and Naruto followed a second after.

"Kids." The Sandaime grumbled deactivating the silencing seals and informed his secretary that he would be out for a while.

* * *

In exactly five minutes, three people appeared in Training Ground Seven. This training ground was the furthest from the village and next to the Hokage monument. It was commonly used by shinobi if they were practicing high ranked ninjutsu and the Hokage's permission was needed to enter or use the training area, giving them privacy and secrecy for their spar. The ground had all the requirements and was similar in environment to Training Ground Three. There was a stream, trees and a flat plain. Sandaime sitting on one of the stumps near the entrance of forest area gave the limitation of the match.

"Taijutsu predominantly, Kenjutsu, Genjutsu, Senjutsu and Ninjutsus are allowed but nothing too destructive. I still want a training ground left at the end of this 'spar'." He stressed the last word to get the message across.

While Jiraiya's outfit didn't change, Naruto's did. He now wore ANBU issued black pants and top with black fingerless gloves and the standard ninja sandals. He also had a sword about the size of a nodachi strapped across his back from right to left with is kunai and shuriken holster.

The two shinobi nodded at each other and went into their taijutsu stances. Jiraiya immediately fell into Frog kata form without using senjutsu, while Naruto fell into a form neither of the men recognised.

He had parted both legs, placing his right with is foot facing Jiraiya in front of him and pushed his left perpendicular to the right, behind him. Then he had placed all the weight on his right leg and bent his entire torso forward over it, while stretching out his left. Creating a strange flat footed lunge. His hands were neither open nor clenched mimicking an animal's clawed paws. They were positioned; his right in front half stretched and his left the opposite, as if to grab something from behind.

"Since we don't want this fight to last forever, there will be a time limit. Does fifteen minute sound all right?" Sandaime asked

"Please Jiji, I'll whip this blonde brat's ass under five." Jiraiya commented, smirking smugly.

"Don't get ahead of yourself old man. After all, your all fart and not shit." Naruto shot back, his face sporting a smirk of his own.

"Don't play with fire brat-" Jiraiya began dangerously.

"Ten minutes," the Sandaime cut in before they started the match on their own "At the end of the time limit and if neither one is immobilised, It will be a draw. Use only the open area for your spar."

"Jiji, just start the match."

"I side with the gaki on this one."

'Brats' The Sandaime sighed but announced, "Begin."

Jiraiya shot forward, but realised in time that Naruto was above him coming down with a heel drop. Blocking that, the two separated.

'That entire stance hinted nothing aerial so the opponent would dash forward coming into the position for the heel drop.' The Sandaime thought while smoking, and he continued to watch Naruto's unusual style 'Ingenious and completely unpredictable. This taijutsu seems to be a mixture of styles of incomplete or incorrect forms and sequence of attacks depends upon improvisation. The hands were half formed due to the slight advantage of grabbing something faster than an open hand or a closed fist. But then again, most of the stances leave the torso open meaning than the user either has to doge or take the hit as defence.'

Jiraiya and Naruto broke again. Both winded, Jiraiya began to use senjutsu but didn't go onto sage mode for he would have summon Shima and Fukasaku to help him balance the nature chakra. Also that would fall under the category of 'too destructive'.

Naruto fell into the same position he began the fight with only now both his hands were reversed as if to grab something behind him. Jiraiya pulling out a kunai he went into the frog kata stance.

This time it was Naruto's turn to start.

"**Ninja Art: Shadow Clone Technique."**

While running towards Jiraiya he made three clones to flank either side of him and 'they' all grabbed the two ends of 'their' nodachi sheath and simultaneously pulled out two swords. One was katana and the other was its complimenting wakizashi. A daisho.

The two sparred for a few moments. Jiraiya blocked the swords with his kunai and Naruto and his clones in turn dodged his punches. After managing to dispel one of Naruto's shadow clones and seeing that hand to hand was not working Jiraiya began making hand seals.

"**Fire Release: Big Flame Bullet."**

Naruto and his remaining clones responded by swiping his shorter sword in a downward motion, creating a wall of water in form of a horseshoe in front of Naruto to protect him from the attack before dispelling.

"**Water Release: Sword Water Wall."**

Using the momentary surprise, Naruto swiped his longer sword horizontally.

"**Wind Release: Slice."**

Wind attacks were invisible and since Naruto swiped his sword horizontally, he created an invisible blade travelling parallel to the earth towards the sage. So Jiraiya rolled flat on the floor until he felt a small shift the air signalling the danger was over. But when it passed him it hit the cliff behind him. Generating a large explosion and when the dust settled, a deep, thick wedge was seen. Exploiting the distraction the Sannin used,

"**Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld."**

Cursing his lack of concentration, Naruto slammed his katana into the ground that didn't turn to mud to keep him from sinking. But he already was caught.

Walking towards the blonde shinobi, Jiraiya released his senjutsu. Letting out a breath, he closed his eyes and said "Good spar gaki, you nearly had me a couple of times. Guess I win this match."

"No, it's a draw Ero-sennin." That when the sage felt a slice on his neck.

Opening his eyes, he found Naruto still in the swamp using his katana to keep him from sinking in. But his other hand had his wakizashi pointed at him. The blade had a section of water added to it to increasing the length and the tip was at his jugular.

"**Water Release: Water Sword."**

Jiraiya blinked and then grinned which the blonde returned.

"Brilliant show of skill and it's been seven minutes." A third voice appeared.

The two released each other and turned towards the Sandaime.

"You have an interesting daisho." The Hokage commented eyeing the two blades. Jiraiya looked at him as well in interest.

"My primary affinity is wind but I can manipulate water just as well. The swords are created to channel the chakra, release it and manipulate it. I separated the two elements into two different swords."

Holding the katana up, "Like you noticed, this is Kaze. I only use my wind element with this sword and most of the time it's the attack sword." Then raising the wakizashi up "And this is Mizu. Like its katana I use the water element. It's the defend sword, but can be offensive." Jiraiya absently rubbed the flesh wound on his neck.

"Interesting, you removed the disadvantages of hand seals and swords but kept the use of them both." Sandaime mused out aloud.

Naruto nodded.

"Gaki, one more thing." Jiraiya spoke up, "I can understand how you manipulated the wind element, since it's your primary affinity. But how did you use water? We are quite a distance from the stream and your elemental chakra can only do so much."

"When Mizu channels my chakra, it charges the air around it and condenses the moisture in it." Naruto demonstrated again. This time slowly, showing the gradual build of water around the blade. After the two men were satisfied with the explanation he released water, allowing it to fall on the floor and he resheathed the two swords.

The three men walked to the forest. Sarutobi went back to the seat of his stump, Jiraiya sat down on a root of a tree with his back against its bark and Naruto plunked himself on the floor.

"You were aware of the extension the nature chakra gives frog kata, also you were familiar with the style. Which means you have mastered sage mode?" Jiraiya looked at Naruto, when he got a nod in return he let out a smile and said,

"Gaki, I accept you as my student."

Naruto's eyes widen for a moment and then lowered his head in a bow from his sitting position to show his gratitude to the older man's statement.

"Sensei, whip out the crystal ball." Jiraiya called out to the Sandaime. Naruto rose his head and looked at the man in confusion and hurt.

"What?" Jiraiya asked with a smile on his face, "I finally get a chance to have a peek into the future and you think I'm going to just throw it away?"

Naruto smiled and took the sphere from the Hokage and commented "No good perverted bastard." Jiraiya chuckled in response and placed his hand on top of the orb turning it black.

After few moments the two broke the connection. Jiraiya looked at Naruto and said "Dead last, huh?" Naruto grinned in response. Then the Sannin's face turned lecherous and let out a perverted giggle.

"Glad to see Tsunade's beautiful jugs of milk will grace the office of the Hokage's. It seems like there's something to look forward to in the future."

Naruto face palmed and Sandaime sighed.

"Now that everything is in order, I will call a council meeting." The Sandaime cut in grabbing the other two shinobis' attention, "I'll tell them, you are one of Jiraiya's students he trained during his time of running the spy network. You became the Kage of your village, which was destroyed and sought refuge in your teacher's village." After pausing for a moment the two nodded in agreement with the older man's story.

"Which village?" Naruto asked.

"There is an island north east from Whirlpool Country, So far it's just filled with dangerous wildlife and no human activity. The land is very hilly and filled with a thick forest." Jiraiya suggested, when the Sandaime remained silent.

"Are you sure you are not making this up?" Naruto asked, as far as his geography went he was sure that there was no such island.

Jiraiya threw a rock at him. The Sandaime sighed; he feared the future of his village.

Catching it Naruto sighed, "What is with you people and throwing stuff at me?"

Ignoring him Jiraiya continued, "So far there is no name given to the Island, so come up with a name for it and your village."

"You want me to lie?" Naruto asked

"Gaki," Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose sighing "we are ninja. It's kinda what we do around here with this occupation."

"Yeah, but to my own village?"

"Just come up with a name, so we can tell the council to save us a lot of headaches and paperwork." Sarutobi nodded vigorously at the last part and added,

"Also it would make sense, since it's next to Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water) and that's where Minato and his team were ambushed before you intervened."

"Fine, for the official version then. But I'll never say I came from there." Naruto said crossing his arms, the thought for a moment. "You said it had a lot of trees and hills?" he asked

Jiraiya nodded.

"I'll call it Yama Shima (Mountain Island)." He paused moment "And the village I'll call it Morigakure no Sato (Hidden Forest Village)."

Jiraiya and Sandaime nodded their heads in approval, when the Sannin clapped his hands "Now that is completed, let's move on to why it was destroyed."

"Civil war." Naruto said. His tone was sharp and final. The older two men looked at him and then at each other.

"Now that we have the facts all cleared, let's put it in writing." The Sandaime said standing up, "Jiraiya, I will need your presence to validate it." The Sannin nodded and got up joining the Hokage to walk towards the entrance of the training ground. It was now early evening.

"Ero-sennin." Naruto called, when the old man turned, "The summoning contract?"

The man grinned and opened the scroll on the floor, "Knock yourself out, kid." Naruto nodded grinning and bit his thumb and wrote his name 'Namikaze Naruto' on the scroll next to his fathers.

"Oh, before I forget." The Sandaime crouched down pulling something from his robe. "Congratulations."

In his hand held a Hitai-ate.

Grinning Naruto picked it from the Hokage's hand. The one Iruka gave him was with him and sealed. He knew that he couldn't use it anymore, since the serial number was yet to be given out and it was scratched upped, old and frail. Then he felt something hit his head.

It was a scroll.

"That's your Jounin vest, and I'll be seeing you at my office tomorrow morning at seven thirty. Do come on time, there is someone I want you to meet." The Sandaime explained with a glint in his eye and cheerful smile.

Naruto suddenly felt his body freeze up, "You're planning something aren't you old man?"

The Hokage didn't respond save for his smile which only became brighter.

Laughing the Sannin picking up the scroll gestured to his sensei that they better leave the area fast. Nodding in understanding, the two flickered out. Leaving Naruto to the summoning.

"**Ninja Art: Summoning Technique."**

* * *

He was not disappointed, when he found himself on top of the toad boss.

Gamabunta on the other hand, was annoyed that the new summoner managed to bring him out on his first try. But still gave the test to the blonde brat. Stay on his head until sunset.

When the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the horizon the chief stop jumping around and grudgingly accepted Naruto as a worthy summoner.

After the summoning disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Naruto fell back on to the grass of the field and let out a tired sighed. The toad had not gone easy on him and he suspected that the summoning was trying extra hard to toss him off. But after many verbal battles and jumping about the toad boss ultimately ended up liking the loud mouth, for Naruto knew that near to the end of the test he could have been thrown off, but the grumpy toad didn't.

Looking at the starry sky Naruto let out a smile. It was so peaceful. There were no screams of pain or shouts of anger. No sounds of jutsus clashing. No blasts from exploding tags being set off. He had been in battle after battle after battle that he had forgotten about what peace felt like. To hear the crickets chirp, to feel grass beneath you not hard ground or rock, to just close ones eyes without fear of being stabbed.

Sighing he closed his eyes.

* * *

**Glossary **

Daisho- The term given to a pair of swords which one is long and one is short. The most commonly seen pair is a Katana and Wakizashi.

Nodachi- Practically mean 'Field Sword'. It's a long two handed sword that usually exceeds four feet.

Wakizashi- A small sword that normally around one foot and three inches.

Katana- A long sword that normally greater than two feet.

(Wiki it if you guys want to know more...)

**A/N:** Well... I don't know what I'm good at here... I was trying my hand at fight scenes and I hope didn't royally screw it up... Please review and tell me your opinions. I like to know if I'm getting better or worse.

I know Fire Release/Style is Katon and Wind is Fuuton etc, also the Romaji translation of the Jutsus. But the problem arises when my original ones come into the scene and I don't want to use google or any other online software, cause I end up getting confused.

Yes, before you kill me I know Minato wasn't in this chapter. Fear not, he is in the next. I needed these facts out so I can have a good base to build this story on.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N:** I won't give you any excuses for my tardiness, but I do apologise about it. You guys have been great help and I must thank all the loyal reviewers out there who have been with me since I posted chapter one. I won't be keeping you anymore, so enjoy!

**Warnings**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Five**

'Let's see what the Old Man is planning.' Naruto thought as he left his apartment balcony and sprung from roof to roof.

He had spent the night in training ground seven and had woken up in time for a trip to his apartment, a shower, change of clothes and trip to the Hokage's office. While soaring in the air he looked at his uniform. He was wearing a burnt orange turtle neck with black long sleeves and his Jounin vest over it. He wore standard black shinobi pants and sandals. After checking if he had strapped his daisho to his back, he fingered his Hitai-ate.

He first thought to wear the forehead protector the way he usually did but after feeling 'not right' with it he removed the blue cloth and replaced it with a longer black one which he tied around his pants to act as a belt.

All his doubts on his outfit flew out of his mind when a familiar smell hit his nose. He knew that smell anywhere, even in death.

It was the smell of ramen.

Completely forgetting about his scheduled meeting he diverted, following his nose. After some tracking which would put the entire Inuzuka clan in shame, he found his pot of gold.

Ichiraku Ramen.

Having a small religious moment, Naruto dashed forward to the stand. Scaring some of the customers he placed his order. It had been a long time since he had a bowl of ramen and it had been even longer since he'd had a bowl from Ichiraku.

"Oji-san, one bowl of everything you've got."

"Coming right up." A voice came from the back.

While waiting for his order he took in his surroundings. The place seemed newer. Apart from that nothing had changed. The same stools and the same counter top. That's when he saw the notice. It was informing the customers the ramen stand was celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary since its opening and everything was half priced for the next week.

In Naruto's words, he could have twice the amount of ramen for the same price. Naruto clapped his hands together sending a small prayer to the God of Ramen, who finally seemed to realise that he was a faithful believer.

"What are you doing?" he heard a voice cut in.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he answered, going back to praying.

When the voice didn't answer, Naruto cracked his eyelid a bit and glanced.

It was Minato.

Dropping his hands Naruto greeted him, "Good Morning, Minato-san."

Minato nodded in reply.

Naruto looked at him. One could say he had spent the night in the training grounds as well.

His hair was messed up and his clothes seemed ruffled. The shinobi's eyes were rimmed red, puffy and he was sporting bags underneath them, like he had been crying all night. But something else had changed. He looked drained but relaxed, as if the entire weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders. The air around him seemed less uptight or high-strung.

"Did you have breakfast?" Naruto asked.

The shinobi didn't have to answer him for his stomach gave its audible output. Naruto laughed and Minato flushed in embarrassment.

"Take a seat, my treat." Naruto gestured to the free one next to him. Seeing that Minato was going to refuse, Naruto quickly cut in by saying "It's what comrades do, look out for each other." tapping the Konoha Forehead Protector on his hip. "Now what's your order?"

Minato paused for a moment and looked at the menu, then answered "I haven't eaten ramen before. So I don't know."

Naruto blinked in disbelief. Being in a village which had a ramen stand for over twenty five years and he hadn't stepped into the place once? Much less had a cup of instant ramen? Those were the cheapest, easiest and fastest things to make. Was this teen his future father? Because every time he found something about him was not what he'd expected or heard. Jiraiya did say he'd inherited his mother's personality. Thank God for small favours.

Minato tried not to fidget under the older blonde's stare. Was that the wrong answer? Had he offended him in some way? Why did he even care about what the shinobi felt about him? Why? His musing was cut short and Naruto's stare was broken by a voice,

"Who ordered one of everything?" the ramen chef and owner of the asked. If Minato remembered correctly the chef's name was Teuchi.

Minato watched Naruto's face nearly split with grin, "Over here Oji-san!" Waving his hand in the air, as he spoke.

The ANBU Captain's disbelief grew as he watched the ramen chef shuffle back and forth with bowls of ramen.

"Are you really going to eat all of that?" Minato asked as he watched Naruto break his chopsticks.

"Yes," he answered before pointing the chopsticks at the ANBU, "I want you to try out each dish and tell me what flavours you like."

Minato looked at him incredulously. No one had ever done this for him before and he had never seen this done among his comrades or teammates. Couples, yes he had seen them sharing a meal and introducing each other to their favourite dishes, but apart from that no. He looked at Naruto again, thinking this was a sick joke of some sort.

'No.' he thought.

From the week of observing the older blonde, he knew he was the type of person who was completely genuine about his actions and words. When Minato saw complete sincerity in other shinobi's eyes and face about his offer, hesitantly, he picked up a pair of disposable chopsticks. Breaking them he slowly took a bite from the nearest bowl.

Chicken. Alright, but not something he would claim as a favourite flavour.

Fish. No.

Beef. No.

Shrimp. Okay, but no.

And Minato went on and on. There were some points he had to stop testing the ramen flavours because they started tasting the same. When Naruto asked him why he stopped, he explained with a sheepish look. Feeling disappointed with him for letting the Jounin down after he went out of his way to 'help him'. But older shinobi just smiled and ordered a roasted pork fillet.

"There, that should clear everything up." Naruto said as the chef placed the dish in front of him.

'Why is he being so nice?' Minato wondered as he watched Naruto practically inhaling through the bowls he already tried. 'Is it because of 'that'?'

"I don't pity you."Naruto announced abruptly, putting down the now empty bowl. As if his blonde companion had read his mind, he continued "I'm nice to you because I like you Minato-san." And shot Minato one of grins that would put the sun to shame. A moment later he went back to attacking the next bowl of ramen and by doing so he completely missed the pink tinge that coloured the fair cheeks of the young ANBU Captain.

Reassured by the amount of honesty that was behind the statement, he went back to his meal. Finishing the fillet, he resumed trying the ramen flavours. There were only a few more bowls left. When he tried the last bowl, which was Miso he nodded in approval.

"You like Miso as well? Alright!" Naruto said and turned to the cook and shouted "Oji-san, two more bowls of Miso."

Inhaling that dish as well, Naruto paid the bill. Just as he was going to leave, he heard Minato speak.

"Kazama-san-"

"Call me Naruto." He interrupted.

"Naruto-san," Minato corrected, for some reason Naruto liked it when the teen said his name. "Thank you."

Naruto gazed at Minato, the teen had such a peaceful smile. He knew the ANBU was not thanking him only for the meal. There was too much gratitude in his voice for just giving him free food. He could almost hear what the younger blond was trying to say,

"_Thank you for saving me."_

"_Thank you for giving me my life back."_

Changing his ever present grin to a soft smile, Naruto gently paced a hand on the teen shoulder. The younger blonde still recoiled but not as badly as the first time. But Naruto didn't take his hand off; this was his way of aiding the teen to overcome his minor setback. Looking into similar blue eyes directly, still smiling he said,

"Anytime, Minato." He dropped the honorific to speak on a more familiar level and continued, "It's what friend's do." Taking his hand away Naruto left the ramen stand, leaving behind a wide eyed blonde teenager. Once again, completely missing an already pink cheeked Captain turn a darker shade.

Soon after the initial reaction faded and Minato's face returned to a normal colour, he let a secretive smile appear on his face and turned back to his meal. It seemed like he'd found another reason to like ramen.

* * *

Completely satisfied Naruto dashed to the Hokage tower. He was already an hour late, so gone was his first impression. Not that he cared much about it, but it didn't hurt to try. Since he was lost in thought and sprinting on roof tops at a fast speed, he couldn't stop himself in time to avoid crashing into a large white figure that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

After somewhat embarrassing and ungraceful landing in small pathway between two tall apartment complexes, Naruto realised the body he crashed was no other than the infamous Toad Sage.

"What the hell Ero-sennin?" Naruto yelled nursing the bump on the back of his head. It was miracle he hadn't cracked his skull after that fall.

"I should be asking you that question gaki." The Sannin yelled back also nursing some bruised areas. "What were you trying to do, turn yourself into some lethal flying projectile?" the sage grumbled.

"I'm late for a meeting. Now hurry up if your here to tell me something!" Naruto demanded impatiently.

"Fine, fine, you impertinent brat." Jiraiya said, quickly casting a strong genjutsu around them and performing a chakra scan he continued, "I want to update you on the council meeting."

That caught Naruto's interest. Seeing that the blonde was listening Jiraiya went on,

"You passed, they accept you as a loyal shinobi of Konohagakure." Naruto let out a breath of relief but then asked,

"There's a 'BUT' coming, Isn't it?"

Jiraiya nodded and Naruto sighed.

"We didn't think this through enough." The sage answered, "They wanted to know why they haven't heard of this Morigakure before."

Naruto shot him an 'I told you so' look. Ignoring it Jiraiya explained.

"So Sensei and I told them it was a small village and had no alliance with any main hidden village. So you and your predecessors decided to actually take the meaning of 'hidden village' on to another level. Meaning that your shinobi went as other village ninja when they were hired and when you got mission request it was handled through mail and the ninja went to meet the client outside. So apart from the inhabitants of the Mori, no one has ever been to the village or heard of the village. Pretty fool proof, huh?"

Naruto just blinked and then said blankly, "That is the biggest load of bull I have ever heard."

Face faulting Jiraiya hit his student on the head, "Be grateful for that crap, cause it got you out of even bigger load of it."

"I still won't admit any this, Ero-sennin!"

There was small pause before Naruto piped in "What if Danzo send his Root minions to check the place. And they find no destroyed village and bodies?"

"It's a forest village; you guys live in tree houses or caves. So I'll send some toads to burn some trees and clear some area, after all I need to practice my Sage Mode. The bodies let's imagine, you incinerated the ninja and buried the civilians. Giving you time to assume that whatever remaining infrastructure rotted away." Jiraiya answered taping his chin with his index finger.

"You can make any amount of bull on an imaginary village, I'm not gonna admit it."

"Gaki, it's really nice to hear that you're so loyal to your village you won't even lie. But in your situation you can't really tell the truth." The Sage replied dryly.

"Can't I be vague?"

"Not on paper." Pause "Aren't you supposed to know this?"

"Yeah, but a lie is still a lie no matter for what reason."

"That way of thinking is going to get you killed."

"I'd like to see that happen."

The Sannin hit his student again, "Gaki! You may have gone back in time but you're not God."

"I know, you pervy bastard." The blonde replied rubbing his head.

"Speaking of going back in time, how did you wind up here?" the Sannin asked looking at the now uncomfortable blonde.

"That's a very long story, for another day." Naruto dogged the question. "When I come to terms with the events that forced me to choose to go back in time, I'll tell you. It's a promise."

Jiraiya nodded, he had never seen the blonde so depressed. It seemed so strange to see the ball of unlimited bright energy so deflated. His tone didn't have its regular bounce or joy; it was soft, forced and tired. The shinobi's eye's had also lost their spark and his face seemed so empty without that ever present foxy grin.

Glancing down the Sannin's eyes widened. Naruto's hands were fisted so tight that blood was trickling from them.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya called out, effectively distracting the shinobi from his self destructive rage.

"Wha?" the blonde replied, quite confused why the Sannin called him by his name.

"Take your time, I'm in no rush." The Sage answered with a comforting smile. When the blonde realised what the he was hinting at, he gave him a grateful smile in return. After a brief pause, Jiraiya spoke again,

"But that was not the only thing the council picked on."

Naruto sighed in response.

"They wanted to know about your background information."

At this Naruto posture became more alert. Seeing this, The Toad Sage elaborated in detailed,

"From the memories you gave me and sensei, we gave them a vague picture. You are an orphan from Yu no Kuni, who I happen to meet at the age of five, while doing my 'research'."

Naruto snorted at that.

"Taking interest in your personality, I decided to train you. By the time my long term reconnaissance mission was complete, you were at a satisfactory level and we parted."

"At least there is some truth in that." Naruto commented dryly.

"Ungrateful brat." The white haired sage retorted, but there was no venom behind it.

Switching topics Jiraiya leaned against the wall of one of the apartment complexes saying, "I saw you and Minato at the ramen stand."

Naruto understood what the white haired man was trying to say, "Jiji, told you?"

The Toad Sage nodded "Thank you for your impeccable timing, and I'm glad that you are helping him."

"No problem, Ero-sennin." Naruto waved it off.

But the sage continued, "I don't want to burden you, but my hands are tied. I cannot do anything until he tells me. Otherwise he'll just think I pity him and push me away."

"Sounds like what he would do." Naruto mused out tapping his chin thoughtfully. He then then said, "I want to help, Ero-sennin, but it's up to him if he is willing to take it." Pausing for a moment the blonde said "Also I don't want to resort to the option of beating it into him."

"Sound counterproductive." Jiraiya commented.

"Don't worry, it works." Naruto said thinking of Neji, Gaara and Nagato. He just needed to pick a fight with the blonde. It couldn't be spar, since it involved a lot of emotional issues and the younger blonde needed to vent.

Seeing the Sannin's disbelieving gaze he answered "It's a last resort thing. If everything else fails, I use it."

Jiraiya shook his head saying "Whatever gaki. Also don't you have meeting you have to get to?"

"CRAP."

Jiraiya could actually feel the air shift at the sudden departure of the blonde.

'Why doesn't he use a body flicker?'

* * *

Entering the Hokage's office via the window, he asked blindly,

"Jiji, out with it. What ya planning?"

The Hokage not a least bit surprised answered while smoking his pipe "Ahhh gaki, so glad that you could join us."

Ha sat casually sitting on the window ledge, so he wouldn't give away his confusion. Naruto asked "Us? Where is us?" looking around for a second person. He could feel another chakra, which was familiar. But he couldn't pinpoint the exact location. He could, but the direction the chakra signature was coming from behind the Hokage table and he saw no one standing. So he thought he was sensing wrong.

Soon as the words left his mouth, he saw it.

A painfully familiar tuft of gravity defying silver hair came into view from behind the tower of paper work.

'He didn't.' Naruto thought, quickly looking at the old Hokage in disbelief. Seeing a cheerful smile and the same annoying glint in his eye, Naruto let out an exasperated breath, 'He did.'

"Kazama Naruto this is your apprentice Hatake Kakashi."

Hatake Kakashi.

Little Hatake Kakashi.

"You're late." An irritated prepubescent voice came from the child.

'The irony.' Naruto thought before letting out a howl of laughter.

* * *

**A/N:** So what ya think? Didn't think Chibi Kakashi would come to the scene, huh? Suggestions, questions and corrections are welcome...So review please... Don't worry about if it is harsh, I can take criticism as long as if it's constructive.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N: **Sorry about the late submission (Again, yeah I know), but I have severely underestimated the power of writer's block. I had finished this chapter sometime ago and it was ready for posting, but it didn't 'feel right' no matter how much I changed it. To be honest it still feels a little off and I cannot find out why. Maybe you guys can tell me something or I'm just nit-picking. Well since that's out of the way, enjoy!

**Warning**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Six**

After nearly falling out of the window laughing, Naruto calmed down. Still amused he looked at his future sensei.

His much younger future teacher was dressed in a miniature ANBU uniform. 'They make those in that size?' Save for his top which was a short sleeved black t-shirt with a thick white strip on the shoulders. The child wore black elbow length gloves with metal arm guards. Even at this age he still wore his mask. 'Damn it.'

The only physical difference was that Naruto saw both his eyes, and his forehead protector wasn't slanted.

But his personality was another story altogether.

Hatake Kakashi wasn't a calm, collected, laid back and relaxed shinobi in his younger days. Instead he was militaristic, strict, obedient, alert and uptight.

The model shinobi.

In Naruto's opinion he was a brat. A brat with an attitude that he knew how to use.

It kind of disturbed Naruto how such a cold personality could come from a child so young. But when the child tried to chew him out for not being on time he couldn't help but laugh, which only further aggravated the boy's mood. He thought about all the payback he could get and one was using his sensei's late excuses.

'No.' The blonde stopped himself from using the most common excuse of the silver haired boy's older counterpart. From what he heard from Gai-sensei, Kakashi was not the creator of those excuses. Instead the inventor was his teammate Obito. If the Hatake child met the Uchiha and heard a similar excuse, coincidence would not be enough to cover it. So instead he opted for a vague truth,

"Sorry, had a to pay my daily respects to Gods, met and made a new friend at the place of worship, thus converting him into a fellow believer, and once leaving the shrine I ran into a white toad who wanted to inform me on the procession of last night's unholy gathering."

Kakashi gave him a deadpan look, Naruto smiled brightly in return and Sarutobi sighed.

"Kazama Naruto, this is Hatake Kakashi." The Sandaime repeated, since the first time seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

"Meet me on the roof within fifteen minutes, Gaki." Directed Naruto, earning a glare from Kakashi, but being the perfect shinobi he left immediately.

Soon as Kakashi had left the office, Naruto flopped into the chair and began glaring at the Hokage. Who in turn seem to take no notice of the intense glare and happily continued to smoke his pipe.

"You're enjoying this aren't you, Jiji?" Naruto stated accusingly.

"From your reaction I thought you enjoyed it too." The old Hokage retorted innocently.

Naruto glared.

Sarutobi smiled.

After a brief pause, Naruto sighed and Sandaime's smile grew wider. He won.

"Tell me the bio, Jiji." Naruto said, already regretting his decision to even consider training the little scarecrow.

"Hatake Kakashi, six years of age and newly appointed Chunin-"

Naruto cut him off, "Six and Chunin? What age did he graduate at?"

"Five."

"Five?"

"He's a prodigy, it's kind of expected of him."

"Now I don't even want to train him."

"Why ever not?"

"He's a genius and it's a known fact training a genius is no fun."

"I really don't understand your reasoning."

"It's logical enough for me."

Sandaime let out sigh while he eyed the time traveller, who was sitting cross-legged in the chair with his arms folded like some sulking child. He expected the blond to jump at the chance to help his future sensei but the blonde's refusal was quite a stumbling block. That when the idea hit him.

"Naruto, I heard from Jiraiya about your nindo."

Naruto eyes widen, the Old Man wasn't going to use his belief against him, was he?

Seeing that he caught Naruto's attention he continued. Sarutobi kind of felt bad for the blonde.

"It was to never give up, wasn't it?" taking a dramatic pause he went on, "Kind of hypocritical in what you're doing now."

Seeing that there was no way out of this he sighed lowering his head in defeat.

"Fine!" Naruto announced but then added, "I'll give the brat a test and if he passes, only then will he be my apprentice."

The Sandaime nodded and Naruto got up to meet the brat. Maybe he should take his time to irritate the boy. Soon as he reached for the door the Sandaime cleared his voice to catch his attention.

"One more thing about the boy." The Hokage paused a bit, "Hatake Kakashi is a new orphan."

Naruto raised his eyebrow in question.

"His father, Hatake Sakumo, took his life this morning. Kakashi was the one who found the body when he was coming home to announce his passing of the Chunin exam. "

Letting the information sink in, Naruto nodded and left the office.

* * *

Soon as he closed the door Naruto smashed his head into the opposite wall. Once realising that the impulsive action didn't seem to help his impending head ache, he turned around with his back against the corridor wall and sank to the floor.

Staring in the direction that led to the steps of the Hokage residence roof top, he let out a tired sigh.

Kakashi-sensei didn't say much about his past. Naruto knew Kakashi was part of his father's future team, his teammate and best friend died saving him which he never allowed himself to let go of the guilt. He didn't know much about Kakashi's family background, specifically about his father. But after becoming Hokage, he had to re-read the history of Konoha and that was when he found out about the fall of the White Fang.

'If only I remembered the dates, I could have prevented the man's death.'

Naruto shook his head vigorously. He had to focus on what was happening now, not on what had happened.

At the moment he had a mentally and emotionally traumatised boy on his hands. A boy who had just found his father's cold body and was hiding his tears behind a mask. Both literally and figuratively.

Standing up he walked slowly towards the staircase. Naruto knew before the Sandaime used his words against him that he wouldn't refuse training his teacher. Even not knowing about the brat's trauma, he knew he wouldn't fail his teacher. But he wouldn't give the boy a walk in the park either. Naruto prided himself for not being the type of person who held grudges but his behind had a bone to pick with the boy.

Maybe after passing the little scarecrow he would ask Kakashi to move in with him and if the brat refused he would ask the Hokage to do it for him, he did have a spare bedroom and he was a fairly responsible adult. Even though Kakashi was a legal adult by shinobi terms, he was still a child. No matter how mature the prodigy was, his mind was still inexperienced, fragile and just isn't ready for what is to come. Plus it would do wonders on the psyche of the boy to get away from the memories of his old place.

When he reached the base of the stairs case, it hit him.

'Jiji knew all along.'

Looking back in the direction he came from he let out an annoyed huff. The old man knew all along that he wouldn't refuse and would go so far as to become he guardian of his apprentice.

The spawn of the disgrace.

The village pariah.

Just like him.

Still annoyed at the old man for manipulating him into it and taking pleasure of his misery he announced looking up.

"I'm no therapist, Jiji." If the old man was watching from his crystal ball he would get the message.

There was no 'if', for indeed the Hokage was watching the blonde. If the crystal could work both ways he would have heard the Sandaime's amused yet weary tone say,

"I know, but you're the best I've got."

Naruto took his time while walking up the staircase. He needed to think of a test for the brat. The one's he thought of so far were for teams and for teamwork. Since this was an apprenticeship, he was drawing a blank.

How was he going to get through to the six year old?

Kakashi was currently extremely driven by the shinobi code due to his father's deflection of them, which indisputably led the Hatake name to disgrace. Driven by code would mean, a punctual, emotionless, obedient and put-mission-first ninja. The type of ninja he'd never understood, the kind he hated.

'No, I'll leave the whole rules-are stupid talk for later.'

Still wondering on what to give the child as a test, Naruto sighed. Pausing at the door for a moment he opened it.

"You're late." An irritated reply was the first thing he heard.

'How did he put up with us?' Naruto wondered. 'Then again we weren't genius brats.'

"I know, isn't it great?" he retorted smiling at the boy. Who in turn narrowed his eyes.

'Still emotional, this won't take as long as I thought it would.'

Naruto walked across the roof towards the edge, Kakashi tailed the blonde obediently. Once the older shinobi reached the railing he leaned against it casually so he could face the child ninja, who was in a stiff attention pose. Directing a welcoming smile at the child Naruto began,

"My name is Kazama Naruto. I like ramen, training, the colour orange and making new friends. I dislike traitors, fresh vegetables, superficial idiotic people and a certain lighting jutsu." He rubbed his chest unconsciously "My hobbies are pulling pranks and watering plants. My dreams is too..." Naruto trailed off, glancing upwards at the Hokage monument he smiled softly. "My dream is to make sure, whatever happened to my village will never happen to yours."

Kakashi looked up curiously at the monument and then at the blonde. Seeing this Naruto said gesturing,

"Your turn, Chibi."

Kakashi glared at the older shinobi but answered in a childish professional tone, "My name you already know. My likes and dislikes are not important. I don't have any hobbies or dreams."

Naruto stared at the child for a moment, before commenting dryly "This is an introduction, Gaki. It pays to have a personality."

'Well, he's still the same with giving information about himself. If not, worse.'

"What for? It would only become a hindrance." A cold confident text-book answer.

'Kami-sama, give me strength. Wait! Give me patience, if I had strength I'd kill the brat.'

"For many reasons. Example, getting laid, screwing around with little brats like you," he received a glare from the little scarecrow, "messing around with your enemy so you don't have to waste energy, and many more fun activities which make life worth living."

Naruto swore he could see a scowl form under the material of the boys mask, mentally congratulating himself for getting the boy to use his facial muscles before they began to rot away he continued to meet the glare of his future student coolly.

'Maybe it won't be bad as it seems.' The blonde jounin thought. If the six year old could give him such an angry glare without showing any emotion in his body language, tormenting him until he cracked would actually be fun. He grinned at that thought.

Gold and silver stared at each other for a little longer, until the older shinobi decided that competition wasn't going to end anytime soon and said,

"I'm going to give you a test." Naruto began still maintaining his unwavering gaze. "To see whether you are worthy of being my student." He answered Kakashi's silent question.

Naruto turned around so he could see the view of the village, he continued, "Meet me in Training Ground Eleven at seven in the morning."

Kakashi taking the hint that the meeting was over turned to leave. Soon as he was about to walk away he heard the blonde pipe in again,

"Oh! Yeah, before I forget. Be prepared for anything, Kakashi-chan." The boy's skin crawled in anticipation and annoyance. He could almost feel the grin in that voice. Sending a soft 'yes' in response he left the Hokage residence to prepare.

* * *

Naruto remained on the roof top.

Propping his elbows on the railing, Naruto continued to look down upon the village. This view gave him so many memories. Both happy and sad. Allowing the breeze ruffle his hair, he closed his eyes.

"_I promise you all like my predecessors and my father before me; I will gladly place my life to protect this village and all its inhabitants..."_

"_We survived the Pein's attack, we survived Madara's attack. So hell we are going to survive 'his' attack..."_

"_Don't be afraid. We have the Will of Fire with us, in our hearts, in our body, in our soul. It was in our forefathers and it is in our children. The Will of Fire always succeeded the Curse of Hatred. Peace will always win against War. So do not fear. Do not doubt..."_

"_I would like to make a humble request. No one challenges 'him'. No one engages him in battle, save for me. You all have people to return to, so I ask you one more time. Leave Uchiha Sasuke to me..."_

"_SASUKE!..."_

Naruto snapped his eyes opened.

'The Will of Fire did win against the Curse of Hatred. But was it worth it?'

Looking up at the sky, half wishing God would take pity on him and give him an answer. Sighing he lowered his head. Once he did, he felt it. A familiar presence.

"You can come out, Minato-san."

There was a brief moment before a figure appeared next to him. For sometime neither blondes said a word, until the Captain broke the silence.

"How did you know I was there?"

Naruto didn't have to turn to know that ANBU was staring at him for he could practically feel the other shinobi's eyes burn into his head. Brushing away the few strands of hair that flew across his face he answered,

"Training." Feeling the anger spike from the teen, he added "Due to bare necessity."

Seeing that the younger blonde accepted his vague answer Naruto continued to gaze at the village.

Minato sneaked glances at the older man periodically from the corner of his eye. He seemed wearier than when the Captain met him in the morning. What happened in the span of an hour that left the Jounin so drained? Everything the new shinobi did and said made no sense. The man was just too unpredictable.

Minato fought the blood rushing to his face when he realised that he had been caught staring by the very object he had been staring at. Cobalt blue eyes had locked his cerulean in an intense gaze.

"Why are you here Minato-san?"

It took everything in the ANBU Captain's willpower not to twitch. The Jounin had asked that question in the most innocent way. There was no annoyance directed towards him for spying on their meeting or hostility. Just plain curiosity.

Even though the new shinobi had asked the question is such a way the Captain didn't know the answer. Why was he here? Seeing that his clone was patiently waiting for his answer, Minato just said the first thing that came into his mind.

"I was curious about Sakumo-sempai's child."

Naruto blinked in response, now that was interesting new information.

"Really?" he asked perking his head in curiosity "How well are you acquainted with the brat's father?"

Minato pressed his lips together, mainly due to suppression of his laughter. He had never heard anyone call the silver haired prodigy or asked about Konoha's White Fang in such a casual manner before.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked back,

Naruto sighed "Well if I'm going to be teaching that scarecrow brat I must at least know something about him, and since he is going to be all tight lipped about it how am I going to get anything out of him?"

Minato smiled as he watched the blonde run his hand through his spiky hair in frustration and answered,

"That is no reason to ask around for information about your comrades. When they are ready or have enough of trust in you they will tell you."

'Ahh, still the good little shinobi. Thank you mom.' Naruto thought. It seemed like he had hit a dead end, just when he was about to give up he remembered the Captain's curiosity about him. Using that as bait he causally began,

"Nothing in life comes for free, so how about a deal?"

Minato didn't respond but the stillness in his posture told Naruto he was listening. _'Hook.'_

"You answer my question and I'll answer yours. You have my word."

The Captain didn't verbally respond but his eyes narrowed and looked at the newly appointed Jounin. _'Line.'_

After a moment of contemplation, Minato finally said "Deal." _'And sinker.'_

"I asked first, so you start." Naruto cut in before Minato asked his question.

Seeing the reasoning in the statement he nodded and began, "Well, by the time I had reached jounin rank it was nearing the end of the second shinobi war. Since we had a deficit in the shinobi, Sakumo-sempai took some of us jounin and trained us to ANBU level. Jiraiya-sensei wasn't there for he was concentrating on running his spy network."

He took a brief pause to allow the information to sink and continued when he saw a slight nod from Naruto. "Once I gained the ANBU rank he asked me to stop calling him Sensei, so I resorted to calling him sempai instead."

Naruto's lips formed an amused smile. It seems he inherited nothing from the blonde in front of him save for his colouring. He didn't have the etiquette, calm collected personality or the quiet controlled voice. He was loud, boisterous, frank, to the point type of guy. Even though he did have manners and respect, he gave it only to the people who deserved it.

"I believe it's your end of the bargain." The prodigy Captain's voice cut through.

"Nothing SS-rank, I don't want Jiji after my blood." Naruto quickly amended. The last thing he wanted was to be torn between breaking his word and causing a paradox.

Minato nodded and for a moment appeared to be lost in thought. Naruto meanwhile fought the urge to fidget in anticipation. After what seemed like forever in Naruto's opinion, Minato cleared his throat and asked looking directly into the eyes of his companion,

"Who is Sasuke?"

* * *

**A/N:** I hope this chapter answered your questions and explained why I didn't use some of your suggestions, I also like to thank those of you for spotting the mistakes. I apologies if you guys are disappointed for the lack of humor in the interaction between Kakashi and Naruto, but it don't worry it will become so.

Ask all you want, I'll try to explain them without giving away the story or I'll just leave to the next chapter (which in fact, have a lethal dosage of writer's block). Suggestions are welcomed as usual and please inform me about the mistakes (I really hate when those slips through)... In other words please review.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N: **Why This chapter didn't have such long wait, is because I had already typed the main outline, just needed to fill in the details and figure out a believable reaction and answer for 'Who is Sasuke?' question. Thank you guys for all the reviews, so here is your treat... Enjoy!

**Warnings**

Somewhat Betaed

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Seven**

"_Who is Sasuke?"_

Soon as those words left his lips, Minato saw a complete change in the blonde's features. His warm friendly expression vanished and was replaced with a blank emotionless front. His relaxed posture became tense within a second and his grip on the railings tightened. But what were still expressive were the Jounin's eyes. They widened with shock and surprise at first and then narrowed in suspicion before finally settling for a hollow haunted look. For a moment Minato swore they were violet for a few seconds.

Even though they were standing on a roof at around noon, he felt cold. This was the same mood that took place when he first met the blonde and placed his foot in mouth when he figured out that the shinobi had lost his village. Suppressing a shiver he continued to wait for the blonde's answer.

"How do you know that name?" Suddenly a tight, controlled voice asked.

Minato blinked. That took him aback. He couldn't even imagine that such an cheerful person could speak in such a manner.

The Captain hesitated to give a reply. He wanted to keep that information away from the blonde to tease him but decided against it when he saw other shinobi's reaction to the question and his hand nearing the kunai holder on his leg. Glancing at the face which normally possessed a sunny grin, now gracing a dark hostile look, he answered,

"I heard you mutter it under your breath when you were dosing at the railing."

Minato kept his eyes focused on his blonde counterpart. The Jounin didn't release any Killing Intent so he didn't alert any of the ANBU who were residing within the roof of the Hokage residence. But the air of hostility was enough to get the message across that this was an extremely sensitive topic.

There was a brief pause when neither shinobi said or did anything.

Naruto was mainly was caught between the past life and the present one. Saying that name was completely different to hearing it being said by someone else. He didn't think that hearing 'his' name could provoke such an effect from him.

Who was he trying to kid?

He was fresh from war, which included an extremely emotional 'reunion'. It was a blessing in disguise that he chose to travelled to this time period instead to the one with his comrades and friends. Naruto didn't know how he would be able to handle the guilt of seeing his friends alive, naive with countless possibilities in front of them. When he knew, he was the one that made their blood and bodies to be used as paint for the battle field.

_There was nothing left. The bodies of both enemy and ally littered the field, slowly staining the ground blood red. There was no wind, the air was stagnant so was everything else. What was once stood a proud and powerful village was now nothing but a large mass of rubble. Only one lone figure was upright. Uzumaki Naruto, or was it Namikaze? It didn't matter anymore death surrounded him and nothing was left. _

_No one was left. _

_He looked brokenly at what once was a battle field. He had won. The Will of Fire had overcome the Curse of Hatred yet again. But this wasn't peace. No, this was silence. So many hopes, so many dreams, so many futures. All was gone, everything was gone, everyone was gone._

_Sakura. _

_Kakashi. _

_Yamato._

_Ino._

_Shikamaru._

_Chouji._

_Hinata._

_Shino._

_Kiba._

_Sai..._

_The list went on and on... _

'_Was it worth it?' he asked in his mind. He couldn't speak he had no energy left. _

'_Maybe I should go to?' the thought was attractive, but he had not the energy to lift the kunai in his hand to slit his throat. Then slowly he felt himself falling to the ground._

_The sky was dark gray, and he heard the sounds of distant thunder. 'Even Kami-sama is crying' he mused as he felt the first drop of water fall on his face. He listened to the patter of rain as it descended on the many fallen bodies of brave men and women, washing away the blood._

Mentally kicking himself for overestimating himself, he pushed away those memories into the recesses of his mind. Now was not the time to hit the bottom of depression. Suppressing the habitual reaction caused by hearing 'his' name, Naruto strained his body to unwind.

Minato let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, when he saw the other shinobi's stance relax. He could tell that the shinobi was still struggling to control himself against his instincts. The Captain knew that this topic was thin ice, but curiosity was too much to bear. He heard the official version of the shinobi's background information, even though he knew that the Hokage and Jiraiya-sensei were leaving out a lot of details, there was some truth in it and that was enough to pacify his curiosity. The blonde prodigy couldn't think of any other question after he heard the tone the Jounin used when he said that name.

It was desperate, hopeless and wistful.

Who was this man, to bring such emotions from the blonde and why did he feel a painful twinge in his chest?

"Deal's a deal..." Minato's introspection was cut off when he heard Naruto's voice.

The older blonde seemed so haunted and was giving him nostalgic smile. Even though the jounin was standing in front of him and was looking at him in the eye, Minato felt the man was looking past him. Cursing his curiosity he waited for the blonde to continue.

Naruto turned back to the view of Konoha lowering his head so that his hair was covering his face, he began,

"He was..." the Jounin trailed off. Swallowing audibly, he rubbed his chest reflexively again.

_He looked at his opponent, Sasuke. He seemed so peaceful, relaxed and unburden. He was smiling. This was the first time Naruto had seen such an expression on the pale Uchiha's face. Throughout his entire life he always saw a smirk or a smug smile, never such a carefree gentle one._

'_Teme, you should smile like that more often. It almost made you worth the effort.' _

"Kami, this is hard to explain." Naruto said to himself as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. 'Sasuke is, well, Sasuke, how in the five nations do you explain that? And our out of the ordinary, complicated, twisted, weird but wonderful relationship? Which included him trying to kill me on a multiple of occasions and me finally killing him. Thus resulting me to travel to the past, so none of this bullshit ever happens again. '

"You don't have to-" Minato began, but Naruto cut him off,

"Deals a deal, I gave you my word and that's one thing I do not break."

Minato snapped his mouth shut and nodded. He spoke those words in such a way that the Captain couldn't help but listen. Commanding, yet not autocratically. This was the first time he had seen the blonde act his previous rank.

After staring a head for a few moments, Naruto began "He was a shinobi. A very good shinobi at that." Pausing a moment the jounin licked his lips and continued "He was my teammate, my greatest rival, my best friend and brother by everything but blood. But we were so similar yet different. Just like Yin and Yang..." and he trailed off to silence.

Minato nodded in acceptance and left his companion. Mainly due to the fact the situation had become so tense that it was difficult to breath. But there was another reason for his departure, even though he didn't want to admit it. The twinge he felt earlier now evolved into a full blown wrench.

Why did it hurt so much to hear about a shinobi he had never met?

Why did he feel so envious of a man who was probably dead?

Why...?

Allowing those thoughts to occupy his mind Minato sprinted through Konoha.

* * *

Kakashi returned to his home soon as he was dismissed.

Immediately he began preparing himself for the test. Sharpening all his kunai, shuriken, checking all explosive tags and ninja wire, he allowed his mind to return to the meeting of his new master.

Soon to be master, he corrected himself.

He was confident that he could impress the blonde shinobi, but there was an inkling of uncertainty. Pushing those feelings away he went back to evaluate the blonde.

_Flashback_

_The Sandaime placed down the morning news paper when he hears a soft knock on the door. Glancing at the clock on the wall of his office he let out a smile. Seven o'clock exact. There was only one person who could be that punctual._

"_Come in, Kakashi."_

_A small child opened the door and walked across the floor of the office so silently and emotionlessly. It pained the old Hokage to see a boy of that age act in such manner. Children were supposed to be energetic, boisterous, and naive. _

_How he wished that he could place his foot down on the boys advancement, but sadly even being Hokage there were limits. Hopefully by putting this boy under sunny blonde's guidance could give the emotional comfort and growth the silver haired child desperately needed. The report he'd received from his sectary this morning about the child's father only strengthened the old man's decision._

"_I know today is a very emotional day for you and I apologise for interrupting your grieving."_

"_Please don't worry Hokage-sama, Shinobi do not feel any emotion so you are not interrupting anything."_

_The Sandaime refrained from pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. 'Please Naruto work your magic with this child.'_

"_Moving on then, first I want to personally congratulate you for your passing and creating a record for the youngest shinobi to pass the Chunin Exam."_

"_Thank you, Hokage-sama."_

_The Sandaime nodded and continued "The main reason for your summoning is that I took great appreciation in your talent and applied you for apprenticeship."_

_There was a flicker of surprise and happiness that flew across the boy's eyes, before they returned to their customary dead expression. The child bowed saying "Thank you, Hokage-sama."_

"_The shinobi who will be training you is new to our ranks. He has permanently transferred from his village Morigakure, which is now destroyed." _

_Kakashi nodded soaking the information._

"_Do not worry about his loyalty. He is a student of Jiraiya, which is the reason he wanted to come here to continue his career as a shinobi."_

_Kakashi pondered from what he heard and he asked, "Hokage-sama, what are the man's abilities."_

_The Sandaime smiled at the boy gently before answering enigmatically, "You have to see it first hand to know."_

_Not questioning his superiors Kakashi nodded in acceptance but the curiosity he held for his soon to be Master only grew._

_Flashback_

As time passed, Kakashi became agitated. A real shinobi should be on time for anything. Being late could be fatal in battle. When the blonde finally arrived the Chunin couldn't help but be appalled at the lack of respect the blonde had for the Hokage. But when the Hokage returned the disrespectful greeting with an equally casual term Kakashi was shocked. But the disrespect he had for the blonde was forefront and he couldn't help himself but reprimand the blonde for his tardiness.

Kakashi had expected many things from the blonde for that comment. But he was taken back when the blonde began to laugh. Most ninja's feared and respected him, some would be annoyed by the fact they were being chewed out by someone so young and he himself expected to get a lashing for speaking against his superior. Quite puzzled at the blonde's behaviour he waited for his reason for being late.

After hearing the somewhat bizarre explanation, Kakashi officially tagged the shinobi down as an 'unpredictable nutcase'. He glanced at the Hokage if this was some terrible mistake but when the Sandaime repeated the introductions again it took all his willpower not to sigh in defeat.

When the Jounin addressed him as Gaki or Chibi, he was at first angry. During his career as a shinobi he had been called that by his colleagues who didn't seem to get along with him or by his enemies who mocked him for his age and father's disgrace. Even by some of his superiors who didn't believe in his aptitude. But since his rapid advancement through the ranks, the mockery was replaced by fear. Now both the shinobi and civilian population addressed him formally.

All his life he was deprived of his childhood. His mother died at a young age and his father was either on a long term mission or too depressed to remember he had a son. This was the main cause for Kakashi's drive to pass through the ranks, to obtain his father's attention for even a brief moment. His training regime left no room for play or interaction with children his own age.

His father's failure led him to be alienated by the village inhabitants even further and the Hatake name became the scapegoat for them. The treatment he received wasn't inhuman but it was still discriminating and humiliating. Which resulted in Kakashi never becoming close to anyone, his genin team could barely stand him and his Jounin-sensei was extremely vindictive towards him.

However then he realised the shinobi's tone held no malice, mockery or disrespect in his tone. During their brief meeting, he began to understand the blonde was treating him as a child. First he was irritated at the fact that he had to show the man up to stop calling him that, but when he analysed the interaction he found out he enjoyed the treatment.

Studying the blonde shinobi further he discovered the Jounin was different. The when the young adult looked him in the eye, he saw no pity but warmth and understanding. No one save for the Hokage looked at him with warmth but there was a presence of sadness as well.

Everything about the new shinobi was bright and warm.

Appearance, personality and behaviour.

Even though he just met the shinobi, he could tell the man was honest and genuine about his actions no matter how unpredictable in nature he was. There was something about the shinobi that made Kakashi drawn towards him, despite his blatant disregards for the rules and respect for his superiors.

Although the newly appointed Chunin had told off his superior, the man smiled and teased him which made the prodigy feel embarrassed for his disrespect. But at the same time it didn't feel like he was speaking with his superior. He had observed this interaction among civilians and shinobi's.

'So is this is what it feels like to have a brother?'

Kakashi froze for a moment at that thought. 'Where did that come from?'

Shaking his head rapidly now was not the time for those type of feeling. He wrinkled his nose in disgust, he was a tool and tools had no emotions for they could hamper the mission. If he allowed those feelings to continue they would interfere with the test the Jounin would provide and would lead him to failure.

The Hokage saw him as a talented useful tool to request a man that has been trained by the one of his students. From what he had heard from his superiors' chatter, that the man was a Kage level nin. It was a privilege to be trained by a Kage and if the all of this was true, he could have something to hold his head high about.

But first he had to make sure he could convince the shinobi that he was worthy of being his student. The chances of beating him were non-existent and the strategy depended on the nature of the test, which the blonde shinobi hadn't revealed. So Kakashi assumed that it was something like the genin test only without the teamwork element.

Another thing that made Kakashi curious was what the blonde was specialised in. When apprenticeships were given out they were generally focused in a particular field. Like interrogation, cryptanalysis, assassination, taijutsu, reconnaissance, genjutsu etc.

The shinobi didn't seem to fit in any category; he was a mixture of everything to be specialised in any specific field.

'He was intimidating but too warm for interrogation, too noisy for assassination but had fairly quick responses.' The silver haired shinobi mulled over.

Putting a mental note on those thoughts, so he could ask them if he became the blonde's apprentice, he went back to his preparation.

Packing his equipment he sprinted to Training Ground Eleven. The blonde had given him a day to prepare. So he made use of every opportunity he got. The boy scouted the area burning the terrain into his memory, making note of every tree, stone, river and bush. Every little thing counted if you were going to engage in battle with an enemy who was way above your level. After he was satisfied with surveying the area he began to set up traps. Kakashi glanced up at the sky, and then back at his handy work. It seemed that he was going to be spending the night in the training field.

* * *

'Just like Yin and Yang. Huh?' the blonde Jounin let out an amused smile 'Quite fitting, don't you think, Teme?' and he looked up at the summer blue sky that was slowly darkening. 'Who is Sasuke? From all the questions he had to ask that one, no wonder he went after mom.'

Naruto continued to gaze at the village.

He wasn't angry at blonde teen for asking at that question. Only surprise and sadness. The hostility he felt was due to a conditioned reaction he had for hearing the bastard's name. In way he was glad the blonde had asked that question for it forced the cold hard truth in his face that he 'wasn't okay' as he thought he was.

It was evening when he decided to finally remove himself from the Hokage residence. Jumping down on to the streets, he began to walk aimlessly through the village.

Today was an extremely emotional day and he wished he could drown the past with a good bottle of sake. Sadly Fuzzy would flush out any sign or symptoms of intoxication before they even began. Useful when he was going undercover as a drunk and enemy ninjas lowered their guard when they saw him down bottle after bottle. But when it came to using it as an anti-depressant, he had no such luck.

Though the sake didn't have any effect on him he drank because it made him feel closer to his surrogate mother and godfather. The familiar burning sensation of alcohol, when it slid down his throat always washed away home-sickness and made him remember the good times. After he had spent a good deal on the bar, he could pick up a beautiful woman for the night. A warm body next to him would be pleasant change.

The Naruto Depression Removal process consisted of three simple steps.

One, go to a bar.

Two, drink some sake.

Three, get laid.

'But first, there is something else that has to be done.' He thought and walked towards the Konoha cemetery. He had a grave to visit, that belong to a certain Hatake Sakumo.

* * *

**A/N:** That was the toughest chapter so far I have come across. If there are any opinions on the the answer to the 'Who is Sasuke?' question, you guys want to share, feel free to review. 'Cause I, like Naruto in this chappy really don't know how to explain it (pretty sure, many out there don't know either). This was the best I could come up with and the one that seemed to go with Naruto's character (to me that is).

I wanted to give you a look on Kakashi's life before Naruto crept through a worm hole (or whatever you want to call it), so you know what we are dealing with here. Extremely talented, mature, intelligent and obedient shinobi with a traumatic past. But keep in mind, he is still a six year old. True, age is but a number, but with that number comes experience. There are some things only time will teach.

Reviews = Motivation. Motivate me and I type faster.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N:** I would like to thank you guys for the time you took to review, alert and to fave this story. Nothing pleases me more, than to see that this story is well loved and enjoyed. Since the last chapter was a bit too dark and depressing (not much of a fan of tragedy and angst) for my taste, So I give you guys the complete opposite. It may not be side splitting humor, but it is amusing. Too be frank, I enjoyed typing this chapter and I hope you enjoy reading it.

**Warnings**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Eight**

Naruto stirred awake only to find a hangover taking over his senses.

Yesterday he had visited Hatake Sakumo's grave. He had not been surprised to see the absence of any sort of offering at the new stone.

"_Hatake-san, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you do please listen." Crouching down, "My name is Naruto and I am taking your son under my wing." Even though Naruto knew the man was dead and he had a high chance that he was speaking to a slab of stone, he still felt compelled to inform the parent. "I've seen your son's future and I promise you, I will do everything in my power to make it happier than it was." A light evening breeze blew gently through the grave stones. "I promise you, I will be there to protect and guide him."_

_Pausing to gather his thoughts, "Sakumo-san, the choice you made. I just wanted to say that, I would have chose the same thing if it were me." The waft of air gently circled him, ruffling his sunny blonde hair. "Your son in the future will realise that you did choose the correct option, for he himself said 'those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' That was his belief, which I carry on."_

_Just as he was about to leave, a strong gush of wind blew past him and Naruto swore he could hear someone whisper a soft relieved "Thank you." _

After paying his respects, he went straight to Anraku Sakei. It was a bar that catered mainly for shinobi and was run by a retired shinobi as well. The bartenders and waitresses were ninja who were either were forced to withdraw from their career or they just resigned from active duty for various other reasons. It was already late evening and the usual early crowd had already settled in. As soon as he got himself comfortable on an empty bar stool he immediately ordered a jug of sake.

During his drinking Naruto paused to notice that he was becoming a little tipsy, but it took a longer time when compared to a full blown seasoned alcoholic.

'Fuzzy must still be tired,' He assumed and downed the cup.

It was time-consuming, but for the first time the whiskered blonde finally managed to become drunk. From his hazy memory he remembered chatting up a beautiful kunoichi, who landed herself in the barstool next to him and they walked out of the bar together. But after that he couldn't remember to a great extent but from the state of undress and the warmth of the bed, he'd definitely got some last night.

That was when he felt another felt another presence. He felt a soft, petite feminine frame wrap around him. A pair of hands sneaked across his chest mapping out his torso, leaner legs entangled his and as a result, a well endowed womanly figure pressed against his back.

He turned his head slowly and he a mass of deep violet hair came into view.

'Odd.' He wasn't picky with women, but he leaned more towards lighter hair colours.

Moving slowly so he didn't wake the slumbering woman he untangled himself from his bed mate and walked across the room to have a shower.

Once he finished his shower he felt refreshed and happier. The Naruto Depression Removal process had yet to fail him. Grinning, he walked out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his hips. He remembered he had a brat to test.

Pushing his wet hair away from his eyes he walked into his room. Glancing at the bed he noted it was unoccupied. Looking around he noticed there wasn't anyone in the room. Wondering where the mysterious female had gone he entered the living room. That was when he saw her walking out of his other bed room in a towel wrapped tightly around her chest.

His drunken mind was not dulled in the area in picking ladies. Not overly endowed but agreeably proportionate. Long toned legs that connected to a well developed behind which swayed from side to side as she walked.

"You're quite comfortable for someone who woke up in a stranger's house." He stated as he watched her strut to his room removing the towel around her body to dry her waist length hair, leaving her stark naked in the process.

"A man who could drink a river, retain his gentlemen qualities and have mind blowing sex afterwards is no stranger in my books," She replied playfully and she looked up at him with tan coloured pupil-less eyes that shone mischief. For some reason she seemed so familiar.

Naruto leaned against the door frame and continued to watch her get dressed, she didn't seem to mind so like hell he didn't either. Plus she was doing it extremely slowly.

'Might as well relax and enjoy the show.'

When the purple haired kunoichi was ready Naruto walked her to the door and opened it for her. Just as she was going to leave, he took her hand and brought it up to his lips,

"May I have my good friend's name?" he asked.

She flicked her hair and replied teasingly, "I don't normally give my name on one night stands, but since you are the gentlemen. I'll make an exception." Leaning her entire body against his, she pecked his lips and whispered her name against them. Naruto froze as he watched her leave.

Mitarashi Hanami.

He'd just had sex with Anko's mom.

'I really hope insanity isn't a STD.'

* * *

It was seven o'clock in the morning when Minato was going to leave his apartment. He had some time to spare so he opted to use the stairs and walk to the Hokage residence. Soon as he cracked open the door he was greeted by the sight of spiky blond hair behind a waterfall of purple.

Quickly closing the door and masking his chakra, even though it was useless against his blonde neighbour, it could buy him some time since he was preoccupied. After the epic failure of a conversation yesterday Minato was severely uncomfortable in facing the Jounin.

The young Captain hadn't slept at all last night, for his thoughts kept travelling back to what the new Jounin said the day before. Even if Minato looked past what the blonde said about this 'Sasuke', the expression and the tone of voice used was what really drilled the words in.

The shinobi seemed to age beneath his eyes. The normal energetic persona vanished and was replaced with a weary, old and troubled front. Minato had seen this expression before. He had seen this look grace the face Sandaime's countless of times, especially during the aftermath of the Second Shinobi War.

Fully aware that he could use his balcony as an alternate exit, Minato continued to watch the shinobi and kunoichi interact through the crack he created between the door and frame. His fist and jaw unconsciously tightened when he saw the kunoichi lean forward, literally pasting herself against the blonde. 'How impertinent of her to throw herself at the new shinobi, isn't she aware she is ruining the reputation of all the Konoha kunoichi. Does she have any shame at all?'

Minato blinked at that thought. 'No.' he corrected himself. He wasn't angry about the kunoichi's flirtatious behaviour. It was their nature and part of their job description. He was angry because she had chosen that certain blonde to entice, and from what he could see the blonde liked it and was captivated by her.

He had heard of Mitarashi Hanami. She was queen of seduction and used her sex appeal to its maximum to get whatever she wanted. Even though she had a three year old daughter men still found her desirable. He heard countless stories from his comrades about how she played with men's' hearts until she got bored and left. When he saw the violet haired woman leave another 'love-struck' shinobi at his door, Minato took matters into his own hands. Naruto had saved his life more than once and he had intruded his privacy yesterday. It was his turn to return the favour, although it was saving the blonde from an unnecessary heartbreak from a selfish woman and not from death's door.

Yanking open the door, Minato did not expect to be greeted by the image of the blonde half nude.

The shinobi has dressed only in a white bath towel which was wrapped loosely around his hips, exposing his bare and chiselled torso. He must have had a bath for his hair was dripping water down his equally wet well built body. It was the first time the Captain had seen the blonde this exposed and he could feel the blood rush up to his face.

Thankfully his neighbour was still in a daze to notice the flustered blonde, giving him the time he needed to regain his composure. In the processes of doing do so, Minato noticed that there wasn't a single injury on the blondes body. This was quite strange for shinobi practically accumulated scars throughout their careers.

But then his eyes settled on the only disfigurement on the tan skin. It was a large grotesque web like circular burn that was situated a few inches towards the right away from his heart but directly over his lung. From the branching of the old injury, Minato concluded it was most likely from a lighting jutsu.

Then it hit him.

The blonde rubbed the exact same spot when he spoke about his dislikes and Sasuke.

Doing the math, Minato's whole body tensed in anger.

"_He was my teammate, my greatest rival, my best friend and brother..."_

'How could anyone treat him like that? Especially one he considers a brother.' Minato thought furiously. The shinobi had so many qualities that even the best ninja lacked. He never judged anyone by face value. He got along with everyone, no matter if they were shinobi or civilian, young or old, weak or strong. Even though it was against his energetic nature, the shinobi was a patient and forgiving man. Even though twice Minato's curiosity had nearly ruined his relationship with the blonde, the shinobi excused him and gave him another chance.

'Why would anyone try to kill him?'

"Mina-chan, you really have to stop living in your head." Suddenly he became aware of a pair of blue eyes which was a coloured a richer shade than his own, looking down into his.

Naruto's face was merely a few centimetres away from his own. His blonde hair weighed down by moisture and the ends dripped water onto the Captain's uniform. Minato could practically smell the man's scent. He didn't use any scented soap for that was impractical for shinobi unless they were going undercover. Yet the teen could grasp the scent that uniquely belonged to his neighbour. It reminded him of the gentle breeze that flitted through forests of Konoha. The fox ANBU turned red at that thought.

'Too close' was all Minato could think when he gauged the situation, and reflexively propelled away from the Jounin, thus resulting him to smash his head into the wall behind him.

The teen heard a cry of surprise before everything faded to black.

* * *

When blonde haired teen regain consciousness the first thing he became aware of was the pounding that throbbed through his head. Blinking away pain, he took in his surroundings. The structure of the room was like his but everything was reverse and there was an abundance of the things in the colour orange.

He was in Kazama Naruto's apartment.

Slowly lifting himself up from his lying down position on the black couch. He looked around the living room and kitchen.

The place was neater than he imagined it to be. The main theme was obviously orange and was furnished quite attractively in a style of that of a comfortable bachelor. The furniture was black, and there were a few paintings hung strategically on the walls of the living room.

Minato didn't recognise the style so he took a closure look; he saw the name 'Sai' elegantly written at the bottom right hand corner. The majority of them were on mystical beasts, but the largest of them all was a drawing of people. Most of the people in the painting had an uncanny resemblance to the clans in Konoha, but since the entire painting was done in black and white he couldn't really assume anything.

One male was sleeping with his head on the lap of a female whose hair was in a long pony tail, with her back against another larger male's who in turn was eating some snack food. Next to them was a shinobi enthusiastically waving his hands at male with long straight hair who was not so enthusiastic, and a kunoichi who wore her hair in two buns hiding her laughter, which was caused by antics of both men. To the left of that group was another three. One was shinobi who was lying on top of a large dog with his finger pointing accusingly at another shinobi who hid half his face with a high collared trench coat and tear drop sunglass. There was a kunoichi with long hair between both men, frantically trying to calm down the ninja with the ninken.

But in the centre of the group of twelve was kunoichi with shoulder length hair sitting down smiling softly at him and another was shinobi sitting cross legged with a paint brush and drawing pad on his lap. In between the two shinobi was another male. Everyone else was seated save for him and he had a carefree grin on his face.

It was Naruto who standing as the centre piece of the painting.

'Who are these people?' Minato wondered as he continued to stare at the painting. Everyone seemed so relaxed and comfortable. Even Naruto was far happier than he was now.

"That was us before the war took its toll." A voice emerged to behind him.

Minato spun around and saw Naruto standing behind him. He was dressed in black shinobi pants and sandals with a black long sleeved turtle neck which had diagonal neon orange and blue stripes on it. In his hands he held two white mugs of coffee. Handing one to Minato he said,

"I like mine light with two sugars." Minato nodded, it was his preference as well.

Then Naruto pointed to the female sitting on his right, "That's Sakura, she was on my genin team. Beautiful yet deadly." Moving his finger to the shinobi who was painting. "And that's Sai. When I asked him to draw this picture he didn't want to include himself. It took a lot of persuasion for the prick to finally give in."

"Why?" The Captain asked.

Naruto paused for a moment to take a sip from his mug and answered "'Cause this picture represents all the original genin teams, and Sai was a replacement."

"_Sai was 'his' replacement." _Minato caught the unvocal insinuation.

Putting his mug down Minato turned to face the Jounin and bowed. Not raising his head he rambled,

"I know I have done this before, but I am truly sorry about yesterday's events. I had no right to ask such a question, which bought on so many bad memories. I understand if you are disgusted with my presence-"

Minato couldn't finish his rant for an unexpected blow hit him exactly where his bump was. Stunned by the sudden action, the teen fell on to the floor rubbing the back of his head, he continued to stare up at the older blonde who was now calmly drinking his coffee.

"If it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Naruto stated slowly, holding his hand up to silence the ANBU before he could cut in.

"I made the deal and you had no idea who 'he' was. You were just curious and the last time I checked, there is no crime in curiosity." The Jounin crouched down so he would be on eye level with the teen.

"So stop being a drama queen, moron. You did nothing wrong." Naruto finger flicked the dazed teen forehead to bring him back to reality. Handing the ANBU's mug of coffee again he commented, "Now drink that before it gets cold. Coffee tastes like crap if it's not hot." Standing up he walked to the kitchen to wash his empty mug. Just as he turned to leave he saw a relieved smile grace the teen's face.

'He's gotten so used to bottling things up, that when it comes to anything emotional he doesn't know how to handle it.' Naruto mulled over while washing the cup.

When he saw the teen approach the kitchen sink, Naruto took the mug from the Captain's hand. "I'll wash that." Seeing the younger man's questioning stare he answered "Its eight thirty." The prodigy nodded in thanks and left through the balcony.

Naruto let out a low whistle in admiration as he watched the teen zip around the roof top. A was not exaggerating when he said that his father was fast. If this was his current speed when he was a teen, he couldn't imagine what he would be like when he matured and created Hiraishin. Naruto felt himself tremble with excitement. He couldn't wait to fight the blonde at the pinnacle of his power. He only had to wait.

Then his stomach rumbled signalling it was time for breakfast. Looking at the clock he sighed. He still had a test to give. So many things to do in so little time.

* * *

Kakashi was beyond irritated.

He officially hated the blonde. All those thoughts he had for the blonde and the respect flew out of his mind when the first hour passed.

"You're late," Kakashi gritted out when he felt a familiar figure approached where he was standing.

The object of his irritation, laughed and smiled idiotically at him before patting him on the head.

"Sorry Chibi, but had to be a gentlemen to a beautiful woman who chose to share my bed. Then a little blonde fox rammed its head into my neighbour's apartment wall, so I had to keep an eye out for the kittling until it regained its senses. And when it did I found out it was in an emotional dilemma so I had to conduct a quick therapy session. "

Kakashi blinked at the excuse. The man honestly believed in what happened for it appeared in his body language. 'I'm being taught by someone who should be in a padded room.'

"Right!" Naruto clapped his hands. "The objective of your test is to steal one of my swords. But you can only use Taijutsu during this spar."

Kakashi nodded, test seemed simple enough and he may be able to succeed in it even with the limiter since he had a smaller stature.

"Ready?" the blonde asked, and Kakashi went into his personalised academy stance and nodded. "Go."

Soon as the word left the blonde's mouth Kakashi charged forward at full speed. He then launched a series of punches and kicks that the jounin dodged. But even though Kakashi couldn't succeed in landing a hit on the shinobi, he managed to drive the jounin into a trap he had set.

"Brilliant tactic, but sadly for you, I was proclaimed the King of Pranks." And the blonde evaded the trip wire.

Seething Kakashi throw a kunai at the wire. Cutting it brought on a huge wave of shuriken at the blonde. There were so many shuriken unleashed in the wave that the only way out was to use substitution thus breaking the rules of the test. Kakashi watched slightly horrified when he realised that the blonde wasn't going to substitute himself. Soon as the first shuriken touch the Jounin's skin. He vanished in a plume of smoke.

Shadow clone.

He used the ninjutsu before the test so it didn't count. Kakashi immediately focused on a chakra scan. After a few minutes he managed to locate a signature similar to the blonde on the other side of the training ground.

Dashing in that direction, Kakashi soon found himself being greeted with the sight of Jounin sitting comfortably on a rock reading a book. From the cover Kakashi could tell it was an adult novel and he averted his gaze.

"Second stage is, you have to use ninjutsu and genjutsu to destroy this book." The jounin stated calmly not taking his eyes from the novel. Sensing the boy's chakra flare he called out, "Begin."

**Ninja Art: Body Flicker.**

Kakashi appeared right in front of the jounin and made a grab for the book. But Naruto merely evaded and jumped off the rock onto the ground. Wasting no time Kakashi made the hand seals for the next jutsu.

**Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique.**

Even though the low rank of that genjutsu. It still managed to shake Naruto up. This illusionary technique draws its strength from the fear that dwells inside people's hearts and shows them the one thing they wouldn't want to see. Naruto steeled his mind against sight of his fallen comrades, but what really startled him was the sight of Minato grievously wounded, looking at him brokenly.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Naruto dispelled the genjutsu just in time to doge Kakashi's next attack.

**Ninja Art: Shadow Shuriken Technique.**

Instead of the usual two fumma shuriken compiled on top of each other, Kakashi used a third shuriken, but it was a normal shuriken. The first two were thrown to distract the opponent and since its D-rank he Jounin would obviously see through the first two. But the last one the boy attached the elastic version of ninja wire, giving him the ability to manipulate shuriken in mid flight.

**Ninja Art: Manipulated Shuriken Technique. **

The disorientation from the genjutsu and the combination of two techniques allowed the silver boy to direct his shuriken to the book. Allowing it to sink into the cover, the young Hatake tugged the string pulling the book out of the Jounin's loose grip. Grabbing the book, Kakashi ripped it into two.

The prodigy looked up at the Jounin for results of his performance. Naruto smiled at the boy and began to clap.

"Well done." Naruto said, "Now come and find me." Then he placed his hands into a ram seal and dispelled.

Leaving Kakashi alone thinking,

'Another clone?'

* * *

**A/N: **Alright! Another chapter completed. Now I'm pretty sure lots of you are disappointed that Naruto slept with a woman, not a man or Minato (this one is not going to happen anytime soon). But I wanted to show you that, Naruto has the 'Emperor of the Night' skills and not a blushing virgin (in my opinion, he never was. He has the Sexy Jutsu, Jiraiya and Kakashi on his side). In other words, he is sexually confident gentleman.

I like the character of Mitarashi Hanami and had a lot of fun typing the flirting scene between her and Naruto. So if any of you bash her, **I will be very very unhappy and unleash a little kunoichi named, Anko**. But if there is any constructive criticism on the interactions between her and Naruto, please feel free to comment.

STD/STI- I didn't know which one to put, so I went with the one we all know.

If any of you are confused how the painting got into this time period. I mentioned at the of Chapter Two 'Naruto brought most of his personal belongings with him...' So that's how. If you are wondering why Naruto isn't fighting back, or giving our chibi scarecrow a tough time is because he is evaluating the kid not challenging the kid. Plus he's a clone.

Since all of that is cleared up, you guys know the drill. Suggestion, corrections, questions, comments, opinions or anything else is welcomed (flame me and I will burn you).


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N:** Thank you for the reception you guys gave, it was well appreciated and useful. Glad to see you guys liked Hanami (I'm assuming from the reviews I got). I just want to inform you guys, my exams are coming up, plus I'm being called for a competitive swimming meet and the professional career course is beginning. So I'll be updating extremely slowly (if at all), till I get rid of the exams and swimming. Just wanted to tell you guys before any of you assume that I gave up on this fic.

**Warnings**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Nine**

Kakashi was stumped.

For the first time he did not know what to do. After the Jounin's clone had dispelled he immediately began concentrated to search for the blonde's chakra signature. He was quite good at this from what he gathered from the training, missions and Chunin exam. But no matter how deep he went he found nothing. Training Ground Eleven, wasn't a large ground like Seven or Three. It was the average and if not smaller, so he didn't have a lot of area to search or cover. While scanning the area, he realised that this was also a part of the test.

Kakashi was actually impressed by the blonde for his ability to create Shadow Clones and it was the first time he had seen the ninjutsu been used. It was categorised as Kinjutsu since it called upon a lot of chakra to create the clone and mental strength to handle the sudden inflow of information once dispelled.

Once he performed another couple of scans of the area he let out a sigh of defeat. He had to admit he couldn't find the unpredictable nut job and fail the test. Sitting down on the rock which the Jounin's clone had sat upon, Kakashi closed his eyes.

He focused on his other senses to make up for the lost one. The chunin could hear the leaves rustle for the slight breeze that flew through the trees of the training ground. He could feel warmth the stone radiated. He could smell the scent of-

'Wait.' Kakashi paused opening his eyes.

He remembered catching the slight scent of ramen when they first met. Also to create Shadow Clones, one would need a high chakra capacity. A high chakra capacity meant comparatively low chakra control. If he remembered correctly the blonde chakra signature felt tightly controlled and suppressed but the Jounin couldn't erase it like the ANBU. Assuming that he was correct the blonde wasn't here at all neither had he entered the training ground.

Kakashi struggled to control his anger. He'd spent the entire night and day preparing for this test and that pitiful excuse for a Jounin didn't have the decency to show up and test him in person. Sprinting towards the gate, he left the training grounds in search for the blonde.

It was afternoon when Kakashi landed in front of Ichiraku Ramen and his stomach grumbled. He had ration bars for last night and today morning as his meals. Doing a quick chakra scan like he did on the on other food outlets, he found what he was looking for.

Slowly walking towards the drapes, with each step trying to release the anger he was feeling he entered the ramen stand.

He saw the root of his irritation, comfortably sitting on a stool reading a magazine while eating a large serving of ramen. Kakashi continued to glare at the man who seemed not to notice anything.

When the blonde turned the page of magazine he said, "Have a seat, Chibi. You must be dead beat."

Kakashi didn't want to admit it, but he was exhausted. His chakra was low due to pulling off multiple ninjutsu and genjutsu, his body ached after the taijutsu spar and running around Konoha in search for the blonde.

Despite his anger he complied, climbing on to the stool he waited for the blonde explain. His hand fingered the handle of the kunai, in case the blonde had another bizarre reason. Once he got comfortable on the stool, He heard the Jounin call out,

"Oi! Oyaji! You can bring in that dish here. The gaki finally turned up."

Kakashi's grip tightened on the kunai, this man was no different than the rest. He was just like his genin Jounin-sensei. But his grip loosened when he saw a portion of salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant. Kakashi looked up at the jounin in confusion.

"Eat up, Chibi. Then we'll talk."

The prodigy didn't make any movement to eat his food despite the feeling of hunger gnawing his stomach. But he continued to stare at the blonde determinedly. 'This is just another trick. You're being nice to me to win me over just so you can manipulate me. Too bad for you I read all those books on mind control.' Kakashi thought and let a smug smile grace his masked face.

Naruto immediately catching on to boy's refusal to eat calmly closed the magazine. Placing the disposable chopsticks down, he turned to face the silver haired chunin. Looking directly into the boy's eyes he said,

"Kakashi." The chunin posture became alert, this was the first time he had heard the blonde use his name. "I want to give you the results of your performance on the test, and I cannot do that with you about to drop dead."

Naruto watched as the boy broke his eye contact to glance at the food for a second and then resumed glaring at him. Suppressing a sigh, the whiskered blonde sipped the soup and took a bite of the saury. 'I really have to talk to Jiji about this paranoia problem.' But the silver haired child still glared at him,

"Fine!" Naruto said throwing his hands in the air, "I won't peek." And he resumed eating his ramen and reading the magazine. Only this time with his back facing the young Chunin. 'Brat.'

Some time passed when he heard the soft tap of the miso soup bowl being set down on the table. Slowly turning, he evaluated the silver haired boy. The fatigue had reduced and the brat was sitting straighter than before. He could still see the mistrust in the child's eyes but now there was a flicker of doubt as well. Taking the boy's unwavering gaze and uncomfortable silence as a indication he began.

"As you pretty much figured out, the test was in three parts. One was to check your taijutsu, speed and strength. Two was to check your genjutsu, ninjutsu and hand seals and three was to check your stamina and intelligence."

Kakashi nodded in agreement and understanding. Once the anger faded away he realised that the blonde was testing his ability to apply the data he'd received. Was that why the Jounin chose to sit at a ramen stall? Did his test truly begin that early? The blonde didn't seem the type to think that far ahead, but it was in the code that a shinobi must look underneath the underneath. The new shinobi just seemed to become more and more enigmatic to Kakashi, as he waited for the shinobi to continue.

"The taijutsu style you use is a modified version of the Academy style, isn't it?"

The chunin nodded. The standard style was not suited for him. For it required a lot of physical strength that his six year old body did not possess and would not, until he grew older.

Tapping his chin thoughtfully "Brilliant, 'cause it uses speed to compensate for the strength you have. Since you have a smaller body is actually above level, but that will change with time."

"Moving on to part two. I was surprised you could use body flicker, but taking your chakra capacity into consideration. I assume that you can use it only for short distances." Naruto looked at Kakashi, who nodded his head in reply.

"I wasn't surprised to see that you had quite the collection of ninjutsu, but the combo of the genjutsu and altered shuriken ninjutsu was impressive. So were your hand seals." Naruto paused for a moment to sip some water and recollect the information his clones had sent him. "Part three was really the all over, but focused mainly after completion of part two. Your intelligence was obviously quite high for the quick improvisation of the trap, the modification of the academy style and the alteration of the shuriken jutsu." Pausing for a moment, "The only area you really lack in is your stamina. But that too, will come with age."

Kakashi knew his stamina was a disadvantage, which was his reason for focusing on speed and aim. He didn't have the endurance to drag out fights, so he went on the 'one and done' sort of attack to be effective in battle. His self evaluation was cut short when he heard the Jounin's voice again.

"So if I put your abilities into stats, they would go like this." And Naruto handed a paper serviette to the boy. On the disposable tissue in bad hand writing read,

Ninjutsu- 2.5

Taijutsu- 2

Genjutsu- 1.5

Intelligence- 3

Strength- 1.5

Speed- 3

Stamina- 1

Hand Seals- 2

Total- 16.5

Even though he had a comparatively high total, the distributions of his skills were not that impressive. He did have high levels in intelligence and speed but Kakashi knew he could not rely on those two alone. His stamina and chakra capacity were too low for him to be apprenticing for a Jounin who was the complete opposite. The chances for him qualifying for the apprenticeship were dropping. Kakashi's grip on the tissue tightened and his eyes began to prick with tears.

'He wasn't testing me on the success of the test, he was testing me on whether I was good enough to be his student. How foolish of me. He even told me...'

Noticing the black cloud descending upon the silver haired boy, Naruto flicked the Chunin's nose. "Chibi." He said gaining the boys attention. He could see the internal struggle the child was facing trying to force away the feeling of failure. If he assumed correctly, this might have been the first time the boy was told he didn't succeed in something.

Taking the paper tissue away he said, "In the end this means nothing." And he shredded the serviette. Scrunching the remains and throwing them into a bin he continued "It all boils down to one question."

Looking down, Kakashi bobbed his head in agreement. 'Do I or do I not accept you as my apprentice?"

Although it was immature of him and plain evil, Naruto made a dramatic pause before answering slowly and calmly, "Hatake Kakashi, I-"

He never got a chance to finish when a group of ninja, chunins from the style of their vests entered the ramen stand.

"Hey guys, look who we have the pleasure of meeting today. The prodigious Hatake known as the son of the 'great' White Fang". One chunin announced condescendingly, which was followed by the sounds of jeers and laughter.

The depression that Kakashi was feeling suddenly turn into anger. Gripping his kunai tightly, his eyes narrowed and in the process he leaked a bit of Killing Intent. But instead of intimidating the group, it only increased their laughter.

"Will you look at that? Chibi, here is trying to intimidate us." Another chunin said and the group laughed. Kakashi's jaw tightened so rigidly that if he added any more pressure it would shatter his teeth.

But soon after the words left the Chunin's mouth, the laughter seized immediately. Everyone in the ramen stand tensed up and froze.

It was Killing Intent.

But it wasn't from Kakashi or anyone from the group.

Turning his head ever so slightly and following the frightened gaze of his tormentors. He found the origins of the tense feeling.

It was Naruto.

He was sitting casually on the stool, with one hand supporting his head. The blonde seemed bored and was absentmindedly spinning a kunai on his index finger. All this time the blonde's fringe covered his eyes, but that didn't stop them from seeing the bone chilling smile. The whisker like scars only increased the animalistic look of the jounin along with the teeth of the shinobi which seemed longer and sharper.

Then he raised his head, meeting the gaze of his victims. As blue eyes glinted purple in the light, another wave of KI flew over the crowd. Even though Kakashi knew he wasn't being targeted, he could feel his flight or fight senses being activated. He knew he couldn't take on the blonde, but his body was too scared to even move. The air was thick and difficult to breath. Kakashi could feel his heart hammering in his ribcage and his pulse pound all over his body. Adrenaline was kicking in and his mind was screaming at him to move, but his body wouldn't listen.

He was scared. Hatake Kakashi was terrified.

The blonde jounin slowly raised himself from the stool and walked towards the group. His steps were slow and silent, like a predator approaching his prey. The group of chunin could barely contain their fear as the blonde approached them.

"That chibi over there is my student, Brats." And he glared at the clique to make his point, making them tremble as a result, "Only I have the authority to call him that. You address him like as you do to any other shinobi. Am I making myself clear?" he asked forcefully. The chunins nodded feverishly in response. It was not like they had a choice. Do or die.

"Now do yourselves a favour and spread the word." Naruto said spinning around on his heels and finished off with one last wave of KI, "Now beat it." He commanded harshly, cancelling his Killing Intent, but the hostility remained. Soon as the tense atmosphere was released, the chunins scrambled out of the stand. Nearly tripping over each other in the process.

Kakashi continued to stare at the blonde Jounin.

He had never experienced anything like before. That Killing Intent couldn't possibly be human. It was too animalistic and malicious, for it to be of any human origins. Just who was this shinobi? The Jounin seem so harmless and friendly to be whatever he had witness a couple of moments ago. The transformation from a playful tabby cat to an angry tiger was so frightening that his entire body became cold. Even thinking about it, resulted in gooseflesh. He had been in few battles and he had received animosity daily from the shinobi and civilian community daily ever since his birth, but what he had just witnessed was something else all together.

Still terrified, he watched as the blonde apologised to the ramen stand owner. Who merely waved it off saying he didn't want to serve customers who didn't know how to respect others. Nodding in agreement, the Jounin ordered another bowl of ramen.

While waiting for the shinobi's order, Kakashi still remained rooted in the same position. He couldn't cancel the effects of the KI himself and if he could he was too afraid to approach the blonde.

Then he felt a wave of warmth wrap around him like a blanket. Kakashi felt as if someone had removed him from a cold underground cell and placed him in the sunlight for the first time. He felt safe and relaxed. When his body began to loosen up he become conscious of why he began to feel this way.

He had overheard when his teammate where talking to each other, about their aftermath of their first battle on a C-rank mission. During their delivery of a scroll containing important information, they had encountered a Jounin who was trying to obtain the scroll by intimidating them. Their Jounin-sensei killed the interceptor and apparently removed the after effect of the exposure to KI. Kakashi who managed to react to the act and help his sensei didn't seem to recall undergoing any of the described experiences, his teammates described.

'So this is what it feels like.' He mused as he secretly enjoyed being bathed in the Jounin's chakra.

"Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to stare?" A familiar amused voice cut into his thoughts.

Kakashi shook his head. Nobody had told him, but he had read about it in various books on etiquette.

"So what is the mental road block?" The whiskered shinobi asked keeping his playful smile on his face.

"Why?" Kakashi asked after a few moments. 'Why did you accept me?'

Naruto blinked in confusion for a second, before answering with his own question, "Why not?"

The chunin looked at the blonde's smiling face in disbelief, "We are too different. Our strength lies on either side of the ability spectrum. You have limitless amount of chakra, stamina and strength. While I excel in speed, tactics and aim. We have nothing in common; even our personalities are poles apart." He finished panting. The emotions he promised to keep locked up and hidden at the bottom of his heart were slowly, little by little leaking out.

'Why does he care?'

Why did he buy him a meal? Why did he scare away the harassers? Why did he later on bother to waste chakra on him?

No one had done any of that for him before. Not even his own father.

Sensing an emotional breakdown, Naruto placed some money on the counter before flickering with the child out of the ramen stand. The two appeared seconds later on top of the Sandaime's head of the Hokage monument. Kakashi didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings, for his eyes were transfixed on Naruto.

The Jounin knelt down on one leg so he could on the same level as the boy and unblinking glassy eyes followed his descent. Naruto didn't expect the prodigy to react in this way, the reply 'Where's the fun in that?' no longer seemed appropriate anymore. Looking the boy in eye he spoke,

"Kakashi." He began, "we are more alike than you think we are."

Pausing for a moment Naruto said "I know what it's like to be alone." And he allowed his eyes to convey the rest of his message 'I know what it's like to be despised, to be mocked, to be ignored, to be helpless. I know what it's like to be hated for something you didn't do.'

Trying to blink away the tears Kakashi's forced out a half chocked "Why?"

Naruto allowed a warm smile grace his face and simply replied "Because, you are my student."

Just as those words were said, Kakashi allowed himself to unravel.

Trembling from the force of pent up emotion, Kakashi frantically clung to the last fragment of his mask. But the blonde shinobi did away with that by simply wrapping his arms gently around the smaller frame of the boy. Gone was the cold, emotionless, calculative and professionalshinobi. Under the facade of a young prodigy was a six year old child, who was in desperate needed for some emotional comfort. 'This was something I wish somebody gave to me.' Naruto thought absently. 'Strange isn't it, Kakashi-sensei?'

Instinctively wrapping his smaller arms around the Jounin's neck, he buried his face in the crook of the blonde's shoulder. The young chunin allowed himself to do something he wouldn't have before in his short life.

Kakashi allowed himself to cry.

* * *

It was late evening when Kakashi began to settle down. The entire time Naruto cradled his future sensei, and looked ahead at the dimming horizon.

He didn't expect the young shinobi to break so soon. He didn't expect the boy's situation to be that complex. Even though Naruto's treatment was harsher, he was able to express himself and since nobody was aware of his heritage, he didn't have to be haunted by his father's shadow. He'd had the Sandaime and the Ichiraku people by his side; although they didn't completely fill the void of loneliness it was still far better than nothing.

Kakashi on the other hand, had no one. He had his father's 'failure' haunting him every moment of his life. Since he was a prodigy, there were the constant demands and unrealistic expectations from councils and his peers. To add to the silver haired boy's list of problems, he had chosen to follow the shinobi code to the letter. Thus killing the only option to release any type of built up pressure. The combination of these situations had put a great deal of stress on child's psyche. Naruto was actually amazed that the six year old's mind hadn't already broken under the strain.

Once certain that the boy had cried himself to sleep, Naruto flicked from the Hokage monument to the one of the nearby resident roof top below. It was then that he realised that he hadn't the slightest idea where the Chunin lived. Kakashi-sensei, in his time period, lived in an apartment a few blocks from Training Ground Three, but he wasn't sure whether he'd lived there since childhood or moved in when he became Jounin. He didn't want to wake the peacefully sleeping child and it would call up too many unwanted questions if he went to the Hokage now, with the shinobi in his arms.

So he went with the third and remaining alternative. Naruto sprinted towards his apartment.

Entering through the balcony, he created a clone and told it to make the spare bed room inhabitable. Once the room was ready, the Jounin placed the boy on the futon and took off his ninja gear. Leaving his mask, shirt and pants Naruto tucked the child in.

Closing the door, he walked towards the kitchen. Even though he wanted to go to Anraku Sakei, he knew leaving a prepubescent child alone and bringing home a woman to sleep with was unethical and irresponsible, especially if he wanted to petition for guardianship. Rubbing his temples, Naruto pulled out a jug of sake from the bottom of the counter top. Since he couldn't go out to drink, he figured he might as well drink at home.

Pouring himself a cup Naruto made himself comfortable on one of his countertop stools. After having a few sips of the alcoholic beverage, he spoke out,

"If this behaviour continues, I will have to label you as my personal stalker." Turning around so he was face to face with his uninvited guest, he continued,

"Isn't that right Mina-chan?"

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, I know our beloved ANBU captain wasn't in this chapter. BUT! as you can see he is in the next. So please do not carry out any hits on me, I like to live a little longer...

If any of you guys are wondering why Kakashi's stats 'low', it is because,

"During_ Naruto Shippuden 4: The Lost Tower_, when Minato presented the Third Hokage with Kakashi's files, it showed his Ninja Stats. It revealed that Kakashi's Total Stats at age 10 are 21.5: Ninjutsu 3, Taijutsu 2.5, Genjutsu 2, Intelligence 3.5, Strength 2, Speed 3.5, Stamina 2, and Hand Seals 3."

That's what the Naruto wiki said (frankly, I couldn't read a darn thing). So taking this, I watered it down to fit the Chibi.

Okay you guy I'm giving you the expanded version of the equation in Chapter Seven,

Reviews= Motivation= Faster typing= Update

As you can see, I'm happy. You guys are happy. Everyone is happy. It is a win-win situation. Plus I find writing for others more enjoyable than writing for myself. So it can be anything (if not, everything. *Looks hopefully*). Also just because I'm not going to be updating as fast as I am now doesn't mean I won't be checking on the fic.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N:** Thank you all for the reviews. To be honest, I really didn't expect that many. So managed to squeeze in the time to type this one out. Till the 23rd of July, please do not expect any updates and do not assume that I dropped this fic. I won't keep you any longer so enjoy.

**Warnings**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange **

**Chapter Ten**

Minato blushed beneath his ANBU mask at the words the Jounin said.

True, he hadn't spent a day away from the blonde since his arrival. Even though it was unintentional, he somehow the wound up in the shinobi's company. Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Minato tried to think of an explanation to give the seated male.

Before he could come up with a plausible reason, the whiskered Jounin spoke up again grinning brightly, "I'm just teasing you." motioning with his hand to the seat next to him, Naruto offered "Come and keep me company. It's kinda sad to drink alone." Nodding slightly in response, Minato shed the ANBU cloak and mask.

Placing them neatly on the black couch, he approached the counter top. Settling on the stool next to one the blonde occupied, the teen watched nervously as the Jounin bent down to retrieve another ochoko. Minato fidget slightly as the whiskered shinobi poured the rice wine into the small vessel. He hadn't consumed anything alcoholic before and didn't know the level of his tolerance. The Captain didn't want to offend the twenty year old by turning down the invitation, so he accepted it instead. Picking the ceramic cup and bringing it to his lips, the teen took a small hesitant sip.

It took all of his will power not to openly gag at the taste. Placing his cup down, the young ANBU waited for the burning sensation which flooded his sense to leave. Once the initial resided, the teen found the sweet after taste quite pleasant.

"So why are you here?" A voice cut into his experience with the wine.

Looking into the dark liquid in the vessel, Minato answered "Some ninja reported, sensing some Killing Intent being emitted from a ramen stand. So the Hokage sent me to investigate." Pausing for a bit he looked up and saw Naruto nodding at him to continue, taking a deep breath "I arrived at the moment you informed the group about Sakumo-senpai's child being your student. Then after you flickered out of the stand I headed to your apartment and waited." And quickly added after he saw the Jounin's eye brows raise a little, "I needed an explanation for the report which I have to submit to the Hokage."

Naruto nodded in understanding and emptied his cup, refilling it he heard the teen further comment glancing at the spare bedroom door, "I didn't expect you to bring company."

"I didn't expect it either." He replied running his hand through the mass of messy blonde hair.

There was a brief moment of silence where neither of them spoke. Taking a sip from the ochoko, the teen broke it by asking, "Why did you do it?"

Naruto blinked in surprise then averted his eyes to the window, "Because he is my student."

"The reaction was too strong for that to be the only reason." The fox ANBU pressed.

Deliberately not meeting the gaze of the teen, the Jounin simply replied "I know." Minato pressed his lips into a thin line; he was reluctant to force it out of the blonde, he didn't want to ruin the relationship they had, he already had two close calls and fear he recently acquired for the shinobi when he arrived at the stand. That Killing Intent wasn't like anything he had experienced before. Steeling himself for the unexpected, the ANBU gripped his Kunai under the countertop and opened his mouth to interrogate.

Before he could say anything, his companion spoke up "That boy's situation is painfully similar to mine." Then he downed the cup of sake in one shot and continued "He just chose to handle it, in my opinion, the harder way. So I had to step in before the chibi went into self destruction." Refilling his ochoko, Naruto added "Plus I detest punks like them, picking on people they know who can't fight back." And spat out the last bit in distaste "Fucking pisses me off."

Minato nodded and downed the remaining sake, he had a lot of explaining and paperwork waiting for him tomorrow. Letting the burning liquid slide slowly down his throat, the teen felt his troubles slowly met away. Noticing his cup was empty, Naruto topped it up again while attempting to create conversation.

"Since you are the first shinobi I came across, my neighbour and my friend why not tell me about yourself?" and then added cheekily "Since you obviously know about me"

Minato's face burned in embarrassment at the last bit, he didn't mean to eavesdrop, he just had 'happened' to overhear. Drinking slowly he replied, "My name is Namikaze Minato. I like training, inventing new techniques and quite recently ramen." He flushed pink at the grin he received from his fellow blonde. "I dislike traitors, people who threaten Konoha and its Hokage. My hobbies, I suppose, consist of reading and my dream... Sorry I haven't figured that out yet." He finished looking apologetically.

"Don't worry, it'll come with time." Naruto waved his hand, "You said you like reading, what type of books do you like?" he asked taking a drink.

"My favourite novels are written by Jiraiya-sensei."

Soon as his drinking buddy said that the whiskered blonde spat out his beverage, and in the process surprising the blonde next to him. Staring at the teen I disbelief, who was in turn staring back in confusion, Naruto finally asked the dreaded question. "You like Ero-sennin's trash?" He prayed silently, it was bad enough having every sensei who ever taught him being a pervert. The last thing he wanted was to be the son of one.

Minato realising the reaction behind the Jounin, shook his head frantically "No, no, no. I haven't read any of his..." he searched for a suitable term, "His adult fiction." He ended dryly, taking a sip of the alcohol.

"You don't have to be polite about it, you can call it porn." Naruto replied relived, then commented "You are the lucky one."

The teen cocked his head in question.

"I had to be the pervert's editor to learn the techniques." He explained. "It was one thing to read the crap. Another to figure out his crappy handwriting, to read the crap he wrote in the first place."

The Captain laughed at the mental imaged that statement gave him. When his laughter died down he noticed the older shinobi was staring intently at him. Shifting nervously in his seat, he asked "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just surprised that's all."

Minato blinked in confusion.

"That was the first time I had seen you laugh." Naruto explained. The teen averted his gaze to the counter top in embarrassment. "Don't get me wrong, but you should laugh like that more often." And he took a sip of sake before commenting absentmindedly, "It has a very pleasant sound."

The fox ANBU turned a strong shade of deep red. The teen bent his head down so the Jounin wouldn't see his face and downed the beverage.

Completely oblivious of the flustered teen, Naruto tried to start another conversation. One would think the fourth Hokage would be at least a conversationalist. Before he could initiate the conversation, seventeen year old asked,

"Are you seeing Mitarashi Hanami?"

'What a strange question to ask.' "Depends on what you mean by seeing."

"Courting."

Naruto chocked on his sake. 'That is one term I thought they didn't use anymore. Don't tell me he's old fashioned.' Coughing and clearing his throat. "NO WAY!" he replied crossing his arms to form an 'X'.

"I'm a 'love 'em and leave 'em' type of guy. Plus I'm new here, why would I want to date anyone now? Also what made you ask that question?" The whiskered blonde looked at him strangely.

"Nothing really. Just saw you two at the door and you seemed captivated by her." Minato let out a smile in relief. He felt comforted by the Jounin's words.

"I wasn't captivated by her..." Naruto protested childishly, his manly pride took a deep blow at that statement. Normally he was the one who captivated people. Not the other way around. "I was admiring her."

Minato chuckled, "No doubt you were."

"I greatly dislike you now, you know that."

"I'll be sure not to lose any sleep over it."

"Why did you hide this charming side of you personality, Mina-kun?"

"I reserved it only for you, Naru-chan."

"I feel honoured."

"Don't worry you are, Idiot."

"You really have to stop complimenting me."

Both blondes stared at each other, trying desperately to suppress the mirth that was shinning in their eyes, but failed miserably. Naruto was the first to go and was shortly followed by Minato. After the laughter died down, the two continued to drink their alcoholic beverage in a relaxed comfortable silence.

"Ahhh, we finished this one." Naruto broke the silence when he went to pour himself another cup. "I'll get another." And he slipped out of his seat, to fetch the second flask of sake.

Soon as he bent down to grab the second bottle, he heard a dull thud. Raising his head he noticed Minato had disappeared, looking over the counter top he found the missing blonde. Passed out stone cold on his living room floor.

'At least he's better than Lee. Then again, anyone is better than Lee.'

Bending down Naruto went to lift the teen.

Sliding one arm under the Captain's knees and the other under the teen's shoulders, Naruto raised Minato from his floor. For the first time he realised how much lighter and smaller the younger blonde was. He didn't notice it the first time he carried the blonde, for he was busy on focusing on covering as much ground as possible and the anger he held for the missing nins was preoccupying his mind at the time.

While carrying the unconscious teen towards the sofa, he didn't expect the ANBU to wrap his hands around his neck and nuzzle his shoulder joint.

'Awkward.' Naruto thought as he froze.

Not that Minato wasn't desirable. The teen was attractive no doubt in that. He had the sharp features and the lean toned body to go with it. Pale blond hair and Columbia blue eyes went well with his fair skin. The calm, collected and highly perceptive personality combined with his appearance was ultimate 'cool guy'. The whiskered blonde was surprised that the teen didn't have any fangirls or boys stalking his every move.

That was when Naruto felt a pair of lips against the skin of his neck.

'Really awkward.'

He was confident about his sexual orientation. The reason why he chose being bisexual was simple. If he chose to be hetro or homo, he would be denying half the world his love and miss out on a lot of possibilities. Plus being around Sai taught him to appreciate beauty no matter where it was or in what form it was in. But Naruto as well had limits. He had to draw the line concerning the people in the past.

True, his objectives in this trip were to change the future and his mere existence changed a lot of things. But he could not and would not meddle with people hearts and who they were destined for, because the slightest change would wipe out the entire existence of somebody. Other than that, the thought of being romantically or sexually involved with your father, made him squeamish, even by his standards.

Just then the source of his discomfort decided to nip on the area of skin he previously kissed. No matter how wrong this was in Naruto's mind, the feeling of sharp teeth graze his skin ever so lightly and then to be replaced with soft wet lips was too arousing.

'Okay. That's it!' and he let go dropping the teen on to his sofa. The ANBU with his eyes still closed squirmed a little, before finding a comfortable position. Once satisfied that the blonde was sound asleep, Naruto retrieved a pillow from his bedroom and tucked it under the Captain's head. Removing the amour and shoes, he used the cloak to cover the slumbering teen.

Pulling the second flask of sake, he poured himself a cup. 'First sake, then long cold shower.'

Walking to his balcony with the alcohol, the whiskered Jounin looked up at the night sky. Smiling to himself he closed his eyes shut.

* * *

Opening them, he found himself in a sewer.

'Haven't checked on Fuzzy for some time.' He thought and walked towards the large cage.

He easily spotted the large ball of fur trapped under the pillars. From the rhythmic rise and fall of the demon's chest he assumed that that the fox was asleep. Chuckling he turned to leave, when something from the corner of his eye moved. Doing a double take he froze. There was another sleeping fox trapped under his pillars.

"_THERE'S TWO OF YOU?"_ he screeched.

"**Shut it, you bag of useless human meat."** One fox grumbled out lazily cracking one of his eyes open. **"Unlike you some of us are trying to sleep."**

"Why are there two of you?" Naruto demanded.

"**There is no such thing as two Kyuubi no Kitsune, stupid brat."** The demon let out a yawn, displaying all its razor sharp teeth to Naruto.

"I may be stupid, but I ain't blind. I can clearly see another fox in this cage." Naruto yelled, looking at the sleeping fox.

"**Che!"** the fox responded lazily waving its nine tails around, **"Figure it out yourself brat, I'm not your brain."**

"Kyuubi." Naruto called dangerously, and then flicked his hand downwards. Causing pillars around the demons neck to slowly choke the fox. "I'm not in a mood for your games."

"**You impertinent brat!"** the fox snarled, but pressure on his throat increased. After some time the demon finally yielded. **"Fine."**

Naruto eased the pressure but still kept his hand ready, in case the demon needed more 'convincing'.

"**When your father sealed me, you were nothing but a newborn. You were too young to handle all my chakra. So he only sealed the Yang half in you and the Yin in the Shinigami's stomach along with himself."**

"So you're the Yang half," Pointing to the sleeping fox. "And that is Yin."

"**Glad to know that brain of yours hasn't completely rotten away."**

Ignoring the insult Naruto thought for a moment "Since we are in the past, shouldn't your Yin half be in my mother?"

Kyuubi glanced at his other half and replied, **"I don't know brat, I suppose since you are the future vessel and have more seniority than her at being a vessel."**

Naruto nodded. It seemed a plausible explanation. Then the Sandaime's voice flooded in,

"_Hospital, the Kyuubi disappeared and she is very weak and has to adjust with it not being in her..."_

The Dead Demon Consuming Seal, was like a gate periodically opening and interrupting the host chakra flow to release the bijuu's chakra, so that the demons chakra and the vessel chakra would fuse giving the host large reserves and constant flow of chakra.

Naruto's eyes widened in realisation, if his mother didn't have an entity in her body supplying her chakra while she had the seal that would mean the end of her ninja career. The seal would constantly interrupt her chakra system, but since there was no chakra flowing through it would cause gaps and fluctuations in her chakra flow.

Turning to the demon, he said "We need to get the Yin you into mom, now."

But the fox's reply was only to yawn and go to back to sleep.

Naruto opened his eyes to reality "Useless furball." He muttered quickly putting the cups into the sink he flickered to the hospital entrance. Dashing through the doors he ran towards the desk that said 'Patient Information.'

"I need to know which room Uzumaki Kushina is in." He asked hurriedly.

The young woman behind the desk eyed him calmly and responded after looking through some papers "She's in room number forty nine, may I know who's asking?"

"Kazama Naruto." He replied he pointed to his forehead protector before running towards the stairs. He heard the woman call out behind him, "Visiting hours are over in half an hour." Yelling a thank you he went in search of the red head.

When he reached room number forty nine he paused for a moment. Next to the door was file. Opening the file it read,

Patient: Uzumaki Kushina.

Age: 16.

Sex: Female.

Current health: Coma. On the Glasgow scale, level 2.

Naruto's eyes widened again, from the many hours of spending with Baa-chan and Sakura-chan he knew a level two coma on any scale wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. Placing the file back, he entered the room.

The smell of disinfectant was the first thing to hit him. Wrinkling his nose in disgust he walked towards bed.

She was very much younger than the time he'd met her when he was trying to rid himself of his dark half behind the falls of truth. Her long red hair was shorter than he remembered and she was paler as well. The teen was so still that one might have thought she was dead save for the recurring beeping of the monitor and her breathing. It was chilling to see such a vibrant person so lifeless.

Locking the door he pulled the covers off her. Lifting her hospital gown up to her belly he channelled chakra to her seal. When it appeared on her skin he placed one hand over it and the other on her forehead. Then closed his eyes shut.

He found himself on a barren land with a giant orb of stone hovering above the ground a few feet ahead of him. On the stone were nine stakes hammered into it and his mother's chakra chains hanging loosely like vines. Directly under the floating rock was his mother asleep. Behind him was his sewer and caged Kyuubis.

'Now comes the hard part.' And he closed his eyes in concentration.

The pillars around the Yin Kyuubi began to shift, forming a square cage around the fox. Thus waking the fox in the process. The demon started to howl and struggle against the bars.

"SHUT UP!" Naruto roared, effectively shutting the fox up "If you continue to struggle I'll make the cage so small you won't be able to shift a single strand of fur." And the six sides of the cage came in closer to make his point. The tailed beast snarled viciously in response but never the less, stopped thrashing and curled up, eyeing him reproachfully.

"What's happening?" a sleepy female voice joined in, looking at whiskered Jounin she asked "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm a... friend, who is just returning something of yours." Naruto answered vaguely and continued, "But I need your help."

Kushina looked confusedly at him, but when she saw the Kyuubi, she cried out "Kyuu-chan!"

The caged demon snarled at her. The red head looked at him in explanation.

"I found him and he needed to go home."

She giggled and asked "So what do you want me to do?"

The Jounin smiled warmly at her, "I'm gonna bring Fuzzy to your floating rock, and I want you to seal him. Okay?"

Her brow furrowed "How do you do that?"

Naruto nearly slapped his head, "Do you remember how he was sealed before he ran away?"

She nodded.

"Now imagine that happening to him."

After a small pause Kushina nodded again. Satisfied Naruto turned to the caged Kyuubi and motioned with his hand for the cage to rise. The pillar cage along with the fox hovered slowly to the stone. When it reached the rock he signalled to Kushina.

Biting her lip she closed her eyes. The nine stakes up rooted and pinned each of Kyuubi's tails to the hovering mass of stone. Then her chakra chains began wrapping around the cage. Then Naruto cancelled the pillar slowly breaking them, and Kushina began tightening her chains. After some time the Kyuubi was fully bound to Kushina's orb of stone.

"Looks like the jobs done." Naruto stated and then patting the read head "Rest, and I'll be seeing more of you in the future."

"Wait-" Kushina began but he withdrew from her mind and opened his eyes.

Unlocking the door he pulled down her hospital gown and replaced her covering sheets. Soon as he finished returned everything to the way it was the door opened and a nurse came in, with a clip board and some equipment for the patient's regular check up.

"Excuse me sir, but visiting hours were over long time ago." She said eyeing him.

"I'm sorry; it looks like I fell asleep." And gave her an apologetically smile; the nurse almost smiled back before scowling at him and replied in a clipped voiced "Make sure it never happens again." He nodded and leapt out of the red-head's window.

Landing on the roof of a nearby building, he let out a silly grin. Humming happily as he jumped from roof to roof towards his apartment.

* * *

**Glossary**

Ochoko- Small cylindrical vessels generally used for drinking sake.

**A/N: **...There! The long awaited NaruMina moment (well if you can call it that)... Did I meet your expectations? or was that an epic fail?... Well, we finally get to meet Kushina, I know she joined the academy when Minato was attending, but I don't know if she was the same age. I hope I got the medical information right...

Just to let you guys know, I'm strictly following the canon... So the people who asked for Itachi, I'm sorry, but if you do the math, he still hasn't been born yet.

Another note, I did a little drawing of Naruto, on how he would look like in this story. If you guys want to take the risk of ruining your mental image of him take a peek at my Avatar (or profile picture).

Remember,

Reviews= Motivation= Faster typing= Update


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N: **Thank you all for the reviews, they were appreciated, have no doubt in that. Not to offend anyone, but I am quite amused at the amount of people who do not read the top A/N... Anyways like I promise in chapter ten that I would update on the 23rd, here it is. Enjoy!

**Warnings**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Eleven**

"_...up..."_

"_Wake up..."_ Naruto knew this voice where had he heard it before?

"WAKE UP!" and then he felt a hostile presence next to him. Gripping the Kunai he had under his pillow, the whiskered blonde snapped his eyes open.

Blue eyes met black.

Kakashi.

With his mask slightly askew, his gravity defying hair in tumbled mess and his clothes no longer clean and pressed, the boy still managed to look irate.

"Oh... It's you." The Jounin's off handed comment earned a glare from the child who was seated next to his futon.

"Go back to bed, Chibi. Sleep is good for you." Naruto said turning to the other side and burrowing back into the warmth his mattress offered. But doing so he met another pair of eyes on the other side. This time they were blue.

"Where do you keep the aspirin, Naruto-san?" The owner asked in an amused tone, despite nursing the mother of all headaches.

"Do you two have something against people who enjoy the simple things in life?"

"It's ten o'clock." Kakashi stated dryly.

"So that's a perfect time for one to spend sleeping on a holiday."

"It's Tuesday, Naruto-san." Minato replied, rubbing his head.

"I'm tired, I had to spend half my night in an unpleasant room saving a beautiful female from certain death, by performing an untested, purely improvised ritual that I might have not survived. Sadly due to maintenance of my mysterious appearance, I had to leave without telling her my name."

'How does one reply to a statement like that?' Minato and Kakashi thought looking at each other in hope of an answer.

While the two shinobi on either side of his bed stared at him in disbelief, Naruto shot up surprising them both, "Now, look what you two done. I'm awake, sleep deprived and cannot return to the comfort of my mattress." Making a shooing motion with his hands he continued, "Out, I need to change." Turning towards Minato he winked, "Unless you want a show?" The Captain turned a bright tomato red and lost the ability to access his brain. As Naruto laughed at the teens discomfort, Kakashi merely shook his head at the antics between the two blondes and guided the momentarily flustered ANBU out of the Jounin's room.

'We are at the gates of war and this is what our best soldiers are up to. I really am worried about the fate of our village.'

Soon as the two shinobi left his room, the whiskered blonde let out a sigh. He didn't know how to interact with his new shinobi pupil. Apparently the boy had chosen to remain the same cold and aloof shinobi like nothing had happen, but there was a difference in him as well. When Naruto met the boy's eyes, he saw relief and happiness flicker through them. Also the young Chunin's hand was trembling when he touched the Jounin to wake him up. As if the boy thought him dead. Running a hand through his bed hair in frustration, the whiskered blonde began to strip. 'Never did I have my work cut out for me.' He thought as he entered the bathroom.

Looking into his bathroom mirror his eyes fell onto his neck. To be precise, the area where his teenaged father had earlier chosen to leave a love bite. Although there was no mark, (he had to thank Kyuubi for that) no amount of healing would erase the memories that incident left behind. No matter how hard Naruto tried to tell himself that the teen was under the influence of alcohol, nothing could comfort him from what he felt at that moment.

Shock and awkwardness he could understand, but arousal. His mind was screaming it was wrong, while his body was responding the complete opposite. If he hadn't let the ANBU go and decided to visit his teen mother, only Kami would know what he would have done. Naruto wasn't disgusted at the whole incident, just disturbed. Touching the area with his fingers lightly he glared at his reflection. He was thinking too deep into the matter, the teen was drunk and was obviously sexually frustrated, which led his intoxicated self to act on impulse.

'Occam's razor.' Naruto mused as he stood under the shower, 'The simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.'

Meanwhile in the living room sat two shinobi on the couch. One was taking in his surroundings and the other was holding his head.

"Why does my head feel like someone set off an explosion tag and at the same time used my stomach as a trampoline." The blonde groaned out in pain.

Spying the empty bottle of sake in the counter, his silver haired companion asked "Namikaze-taichou, is this your first time drinking?"

The ANBU didn't answer but bristled in embarrassment, but that was enough of a response for the young Chunin.

"Namikaze-taichou, you are having a hangover." And Kakashi's mental image of the famous ANBU prodigy who was personally tutored by the great Toad Sannin himself was beginning to shatter bit by bit.

After a somewhat uncomfortable silence, Kakashi continued in a dryer tone "Drink some water or coffee, and then eat something."

Minato shot the chunin an irritated look, being told what to do hurt twice as bad when it was coming from a six year old child."Just get me some aspirin and I'll be fine."

Before the silver haired boy could answer, another voice cut in. "Sadly the gaki is right, it's better to eat and drink something rather than shove some pills down your throat."

Wearing an orange-red long sleeve turtle neck and black shinobi pants, Naruto sat down on to the chair facing the two seated shinobi. Mussing up his hair, he caught the stares of both ninjas.

"What?" he asked.

The two prodigies looked at each other, until Minato spoke up "Don't you have anything in a neutral colour?"

"Do not diss the orange." Naruto glared, "me without orange is like Tsunade without her breasts."

"Naruto-san I wasn't insulting the colour, just looking out for your safety." Glancing at Kakashi, "Also you shouldn't speak of such things in front of minors."

The Jounin just waved it off and replied, "It not like the chibi doesn't know, and it's good for him if he starts young." Oblivious to the open mouth captain and the red faced boy. 'Plus he's gonna be a future porn addict. There are some things I can prevent, and that is not one of them.'

Seeing that no one was going to speak up, the whiskered shinobi clapped his hands and spoke, "Since we all are here and starving, I vote to go to Ichiraku for breakfast."

"Ramen cannot be considered breakfast." A skeptical prepubescent tone voiced out.

Lightly hitting his head, the now annoyed Jounin retorted, "Shut up, Gaki. Ramen is the food of the Gods, so it can be eaten at anytime of the day."

* * *

Kushina peered out of her hospital room window.

The entire hospital team that was in charge of viewing her medical progress was completely shocked when the kunoichi woke up from her comatose state early this morning. The doctor in charge explained to red head that due to the sudden disappearance of her 'tenet', her body had gone into severe chakra exhaustion which inevitably led to a completely shut down. A Yamanaka had been brought earlier to examine Kushina found out that she was mirroring the deep coma state she was in reality, in her mind. Later on when she woke up, the mind reader had been brought again, but only to reply shakily that the Kyuubi had returned to her body.

Strangely when the Hokage who had been present during the entire mind transfer, had asked who had visited her lately. The receptionist at the patient information had replied 'Kazama Naruto' and a nurse had nodded her head saying something along the lines of falling asleep at her bedside. The information of her status of a jinchuuriki was hidden, only a few were aware of it, including the Hokage, the Sannins, a team of medics and the council. So why a random person would come and visit her, let alone fall asleep at her bedside and why did the Hokage let out a frustrated sigh?

But that wasn't what put the kunoichi on the edge.

Yawning she placed her hand on her stomach, the exact point where the seal was.

'What was that?'

Kushina couldn't remember what happened clearly, although she did feel someone had entered her mindscape her instincts were not awaken until she felt Kyuubi's malevolent chakra flood her system, reactivating her brain to her senses causing her to wake up only in her mind. Even though the teen was aware of what was happening. She still felt weak, exhausted and groggy.

Once she had woken up, she heard snarling, crashing and a deep male voice speak commandingly. Hearing the unfamiliar voice of a human she forced her sense to attention. Taking in the scene of a blonde Jounin holding a glaring competition with the Fox, she tried to appear intimidating and defensive. Although the red head attempted to interrogate the man uninvited appearance, it came out more of questioning for there was something about the mysterious Jounin.

Home.

That was how Kushina would have described him. His chakra, smile, personality and mere presences reminded her of her home. Konoha was her home now and she loved it dearly, but nothing would or could ever replace her birth place. Everything about that shinobi was whirlpool; she could feel his chakra spin energetically and pulse with power just like her clans men. Just like home. It didn't frighten her, it calmed her down and made her feel relaxed.

'_I'm a friend...'_

Yes, he was not the enemy, he was a friend. The red haired kunoichi took pride in following her heart and gut. It had never failed her before, so why now? Everything, save for her head, told her that this Jounin meant no harm, so why not take a leap of faith again?

'_I found him and he needed to go home...'_

'_But I need your help...'_

What would he gain in returning Kyuubi into her? While she had everything to lose if she refused his offer. Kushina accepted it, with a smile.

'Kazama Naruto, huh?' The kunoichi thought, that was the name given by the receptionist on who visited her last night and the nurse who confirmed it saying she found a blonde haired, blue eyed Jounin who had six whisker markings on his cheeks, in her room.

'_I'll be seeing more of you in the future...'_

"Yes, you will Naruto-san." The red haired teen smiled looking at the village. She had a lot of questions to ask.

* * *

"So I guess you guys are now acquainted?" The Jounin asked, glancing at the shinobi on either side while they were waiting for their order.

Both prodigies looked at each other for a moment.

_Flashback_

_Kakashi cracked his eyes open._

_Strangely he felt worn out, but not physically. Taking in his surroundings, he realised the reason behind his drained state. There was only one person in the Konoha who would have carrot coloured bed sheets and pillowcases._

_He was in Kazama Naruto's apartment._

'_No. It's Kazama-shishou, now.' He corrected himself smiling beneath his mask as recalled the events of yesterday. When the young chunin figured out how he wound up in his new teachers spare bedroom he turned a bright tomato red._

'_How immature.' He thought as he gripped the sheets tightly in his small hands. He'd cried in front of the Jounin. He broke in front of a new shinobi. He snapped in front of the ninja who had just accepted him to be his student. 'How unprofessional.'_

_But his self berating thoughts were short lived when he remembered the embrace the blonde held him in._

_He was right in his earlier observation. The shinobi was warm. In that embrace he felt as if someone had wrapped him in a thick fuzzy blanket on a rainy day. He felt for the very first time, accepted and understood. Someone saw his pain and chose to sooth it. All the expectations, responsibilities and duties melted away. The cold glares, vindictive words, humiliating and discriminating actions didn't matter anymore. None of it mattered anymore and chains that were tying him down all fell._

_After letting out all the frustrations, anger, sadness until he had no more tears out Kakashi chose to listen to the heartbeat of the shinobi. He was too tired to do anything else save for closing his eyes and listen to the rhythmic pounding of the blondes neck. He had never been held in such away before, his colleagues were not on good terms with him, girls were too afraid of him, even his father didn't even want to touch him and in the end avoided him as if he was jinchuuriki._

_Savouring the moment he allowed himself to fall asleep._

_Kakashi snapped his head upwards, now was not the time to feel pampered. He had to prove to the Jounin that he made the correct choice and have no regrets in it. Removing himself from the futon he found his discarded shinobi equipment next to the mattress. Wearing them and folding the mattress he left the room._

_One leaving the spare bedroom and entered the living room his eyes fell on the clock. It was past nine thirty. This was the first time he had ever woken up any time after five. Searching the room for the blonde his eyes fell on the couch. To be precise the slumbering figure on the couch._

_There was something wrong with the figure of the blonde on the couch. The shinobi was smaller and the blonde hair was lighter than the Jounin teacher. Plus there was a fox ANBU mask on the black coffee table and the ninja was garbed in standard ANBU uniform. Just then the blonde shinobi shifted and his face now faced Kakashi._

_Namikaze Minato._

_What was Konoha's prodigious ANBU Captain doing, sleeping on a newly transferred shinobi's couch? _

_Kakashi crept closer towards sleeping Captain and studied the shinobi's face. The teen did have an uncanny resemblance to the Jounin. 'Are they related in anyway?' The silver haired boy pondered._

_Just then a Hatake prodigy deflected a kunai thrown at him. _

"_You have to do better than that if you want to sneak on me Naru-chan." Minato spoke in a playful tone while closing his eyes._

'_Naru-chan?' Kakashi nearly chocked out. Just what was his teacher's relationship with the Captain? The more he found out about the Jounin the more confused the Chunin became._

"_I'm not Kazama Naruto." The young shinobi finally stated._

_Snapping his eyes open Minato replied with an intelligent, "Oh..."_

_Flashback end._

"Yes." Minato answered, with a tone of finality while staring directly at Chunin seated on the other side of the Jounin.

Naruto raised his eyebrows in curiosity then glanced at Kakashi, who in turn refused to meet his eyes. 'Weird.' The whiskered blonde thought, then reached out to take a pair of disposable chopsticks when he saw their order being served.

Minato on the other hand, was sipping the glass of water he'd asked from the ramen chef before. While massaging his head he tried to recall what had happened last night.

He remembered the conversation, the explanations and questions that were answered last night. But he just couldn't remember what happened after that. Strangely enough, he could recall the extremely vivid dream which followed the brief blackout.

_It was cold._

_No unbearably, but uncomfortable._

_Even so, he still didn't have the energy to shift or to wrap his arms around himself. He was just too tired. _

_That was when he felt a familiar warmth engulf him._

_He knew this presence, this scent, this warmth._

_Naruto._

_Cracking his eyes open just by a millimetre he saw a familiar mop of blonde hair and deep blue eye's peer amusingly at him. Why was he amused? That didn't matter now. What mattered was that the whiskered shinobi was here with him._

_The Jounin being there wasn't enough for the ANBU Captain. _

_He wanted more. _

_He wanted more of the Jounin's companionship. He wanted the blonde to be there next to him. The blonde was so close, so the teen wrapped his arms around the shinobi._

_For a moment it was enough to pacify the seventeen year old. He had what he wanted in his arms. The older shinobi warmed him up and chased away the loneliness. Being a prodigy, meant being different, but not in a good away. When people interacted with him they, always expect something from the Captain, but when he was with his neighbour it was completely different. _

_Naruto always seemed to be able to connect with him, make him relax, like no other ninja or civilian had ever done before. There was something in the older blonde that made him able to open up without fearing this would be the water for the dry grape vine. Even though he only knew the shinobi for over week, Minato could say he trusted the blonde._

_It felt... nice._

_But all good things come to an end. For the fear, Naruto would lose interest or be taken away from him, slowly flooded Minato's mind. There were very few things the ANBU would call his and because of that, he protected them fiercely. Naruto was his and no one else's, and the teen decided to make it a world renowned fact, by nibbling the neck of the shinobi._

_Once satisfied with his work, he released the whiskered blonde and fell into a deep peaceful slumber. _

Minato covered his face with his hands; he could practically feel the blood rush to his face, 'What kind of dream was that?' the teen screeched in his head. He had no rights of ownership over the Jounin and neither did he have any romantic interest. 'I just find his company enjoyable.' The ANBU told himself, taking deep slow breaths to calm himself and his face down.

After his composure returned he caught the sight of the Jounin, the chunin and ramen chef staring at him.

"What?" The ANBU asked flushing a bit pink.

The trio exchanged looks among themselves before simultaneously shaking their heads and saying, "Nothing."

The two prodigies and the newbie began to eat their meal in silence, until a new customer entered the ramen stand.

"Gaki! You have made me a proud man." The world renowned Legendary Toad Sannin stated, grinning broadly.

With the chopsticks in his mouth, Naruto didn't feel like he wanted to know what he had done to earn the man's pride. That grin spoke words that no language could. Clearly oblivious to the whiskered shinobi's uneasiness, the Sannin began.

"First, bedding and leaving a 'satisfied' Mitarashi Hanami. I must congratulate you on that, which is no easy feat."

The Jounin face palmed and mentally groaned, 'Not this again. No matter how hot she was, I really would like to forget the fact I slept with the psycho snake lady's mother.'

"Second, is that I heard that you had rushed into the Konoha Hospital in mad frenzy asking for a kunoichi, and fallen asleep at her bedside." The sage looked directly at his whiskered pupil. "Didn't peg you as the romantic type, but that stunt earned you quite the fanclub."

Misinterpreting his time travelling student's expression, Jiraiya allowed his face to turn lecherous. Pulling out his 'research' utensils while grinning broadly he commented, "Looks like there is more to the story. Now gaki, don't be stingy. Sharing is caring. More detailed the better."

Naruto gaped.

Minato chocked.

Kakashi calmly continued to eat his meal, 'Adults.'

* * *

**Glossary**

Shishou- Master (a respectful term used in a Master-Apprentice relationship NOT Master-slave, please do not confuse yourself)

**A/N:** Well I noticed a lot of you were wondering why Kushina wasn't in her character... Hopefully this chapter answers those questions. I have plans for everything, but please alert me if any cannon character seems off... What can I say? Some, it is planned, others... not so much.

For those who didn't understand the term '..._the water for the dry grape vine'_, Grape Vine is gossip. So simply Minato means, fueling the gossip. Forgive me for being a little too figurative.

Please do drop in anything and do not feel discourage if I don't reply to them... comments (are valued and appreciated), questions (I will answer them if it doesn't ruin the plot, or spoil anything), suggestions (I do use them, I just like to surprise the suggester), corrections (I correct the earlier chapter when I post the next installment), opinions (are respected and taken into account).

Now here comes the part you guys hate,

I will be lengthening my updating cycle. The older reviewers are aware, that I try to update every 3 days, but it seems that I have underestimated life (let us keep it at that. I don't want to tire you with excuses. You're here to read, not to hear my problems). So I'll try keep a weekly cycle, until I get my pace back.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N:** Thank you all for the reviews, they are appreciated as always. I will not keep you any longer, so enjoy!

Albatross Aoba, thank you for turning my story into a psychological case study and I'm assuming that you have by now, read chapter ten. But next time, please read the entire story before you jump to conclusions and review. Such as the review you posted in chapter eight. Also, please enable your PM Service so I can reply to your accusations and explain my perspective of the story privately. If not, your reviews will be ignored, but thank you for bumping up the review count.

**Warnings**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange **

**Chapter Twelve**

It was late morning at the Ichiraku Ramen stand and there sat, three adults and child, in heavy silence at the counter top.

Jiraiya, loved how informative the village grape vine was.

Naruto, was stunned at how informative the village grape vine was.

Minato, didn't believe the information he just received from the village grape vine.

And Kakashi, just didn't give a damn.

To be exact, the silver haired prodigy didn't care for what came out of the village gossip, that's if it didn't concern him. But what caught his attention was reaction of their ANBU Captain. They say children notice everything. A prodigy, even more so.

Why did the Captain care about his teacher's 'nightly adventure'? Why did the teen look so hurt?

'The whiskered blond had only been in the village for little over a week, unless...' The chibi's thoughts trailed off, when his blond teacher found his voice.

"Ero-sennin, who told you that?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

"The receptionist and the nurse wasn't it?"

"Directly from the source, so no alterations. See, I take my research very seriously. Enough with the legitimacy of my work, now give me the key to unlock my bestseller. Don't worry you can get fifteen percent of the profit."

"Ero-sennin." The Jounin took a deep breath as if to calm himself down, "Do you know who I visited?"

"Why would that be important?"

"Ero-sennin." The blonde pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just go visit and talk to the Old man."

"He was there too?"

Naruto felt the shiver run down his spine and shook his head mentally to rid himself of the disturbing mental pictures bombarding his mind. Swallowing the urge to gag, he continued to in a strained voice, "Just, just go, Ero-sennin."

The toad Sannin frowned, but never the less nodded "Fine, but this is not over. I still need to speak to you about your other expedition." And left.

"Like that's ever gonna happen." Scoffed the blondereturning to his meal. After eating a few bites he asked the staring ANBU Captain, "What?"

"I thought you told me you were the 'love 'em and leave 'em' type?" the teen asked trying to sound amused, but Kakashi could see that he was clutching the chopsticks tightly and his whole body was slightly tensed. 'Again, why does he care?' the little Hatake asked himself,looking at his teacher, he found out that man didn't pick up on it. 'And he was a Kage?'

"I am... Just this one was a special case." The Jounin answered and went back to his meal. The ANBU's posture tensed even more.

"How so?" the teen pressed, with visible tension in his voice.

The Jounin looked at the Captain and smiled fondly, "Well, how do I say this? I know the clan very well, so I was doing them a favour."

"By sleeping with her in hospital?"

"No, I did not sleep with her. I just slept next to her."Naruto replied extremely slowly.

"And that makes a difference cause?"

"With clothes on and she was in bed."

"With you?"

"I was in the chair. My head was on the 'edge' of the bed."

"For the bed was too small to fit the rest of you."

"For the last time, I did not sleep with her. Do you even know who 'her' is?"

"Please do tell." 'I need to keep an eye on this kunoichi.'

'So they aren't in a relationship yet? Then again, he was a good little shinobi not too long ago and if mom is anything like me, I guess they don't move in the same circles.' "Uzumaki Kushina."

"The whirlpool refugee?" Minato heard about her from his colleagues that she was human personification of fire. In body and in personality. But why did he feel threatened and worried by her?

Meanwhile Naruto was a little drawn back by the way the teen identified his future spouse. 'Weren't they in the same class?' "Yes, that one. The whirlpool country was south west from the island that Morigakure was built on. So both villages knew each other pretty well. I personally know the Uzumaki Clan and when I heard the last surviving heir was in a pinch. I went to help her." 'I am so going to hell for this.' And then later on added after a bite of ramen "She's practically family."

"Ah..." and the teen went back to his meal.

The Hatake prodigy could see the barely contained relief and happiness flood into the blonde teen's expression at those words. The Captain's posture relaxed and the air around him changed. One would have to be an idiot not to see the sudden transformation, seeing his teacher inhaling his food, 'unfortunately, he is one.' Seeing a small smile on the ANBU's face when he looked at the whiskered blonde, Kakashi immediately answered his own question.

Why did the he care?

'The Captain has a strong romantic attraction to new Jounin.' Staring at his teacher, 'and the Jounin somehow managed to fail to recognise the rather obvious romantic attraction.'

The older shinobi caught the stare of his student and asked in a very puzzled tone, "What?"

Kakashi smiled amusedly under his mask, 'Then again it is expected from an idiot like him.' "Nothing."

* * *

After he finished his meal, Minato bid the teacher and his student goodbye and flickered out of the stand. Once the blonde Captain left the ramen stand Naruto turned to his student.

"Now Chibi, let's go to your place. So you can freshen up, 'cause we have some work to do."

Nodding, the silver haired prodigy hopped off the stool and walked in the direction of his house. The Jounin followed him laughing silently at the bounce in the boys step.

The politically correct term to describe the journey to Hatake house was 'enlightening'. It consisted of a series of repetitive of events. First, Kakashi would walk earning the usual discrimination and humiliating behaviour from both civilian and shinobi residents. Then Naruto would place a hand on his students shoulder and 'inform' the people of his relationship with the Hatake boy. The immediate response would be apologies to the silver haired prodigy and his teacher and promises it would not happen again.

Despite the light feeling of happiness at the act of seeing his teacher defending him, the young Chunin looked up and asked "Wouldn't you get into trouble for threatening everyone and leaking Killing Intent?"

The whiskered jounin ruffled his student's gravity defying hair and answered after a small pause, "I might get into a little trouble. Most probably a lecture, but nothing more than that."

The boy sighed muttering something thatsounded along the lines of 'idiot' and continued to walk down the street. Naruto smirked at his little student; he could hear the underlying tone of worry in the boy's voice. So he couldn't help but add amusedly, "I care for you too, Chibi."

Nearly tripping over his own feet, a flustered Hatake Kakashi shot back "Go stab yourself."

"I'm no masochist, Chibi and no BDSM fan either."

Kakashi paused for a moment before asking, "What is BDSM?"

"Chibi, you see as your teacher. I must encourage self-study. Teaching in an overly simplified way will discourage independent thought, so let's put that down as home work and things-to find- out." Seeing his student's I-do-not- believe-you look , the whiskered Jounin quickly changed the topic, "We don't have all day, Chibi. Where is your house?"

The silver haired boy merely lifted his finger and pointed at random direction. They were in the east part of the village and near the movie theatre. Following the finger,Naruto was greeted by the sight of his student's home. It was the same apartment complex his sensei resided in. 'No wonder, Kakashi-sensei was a clinically depressed. Living in the house that your father killed himself is not good for anyone's mental health, especially for a kid of the age six.'

"Lead the way, Chibi." The Jounin could see the beginning of the melancholy set in. His student seemed to have lost all the excitement and happiness he had earlier. There was hesitancy to walk towards the complex and each step towards the compound made the boy revert to his dead-emotionless self.

While walking up the stairs, the whiskered blonde suggested, "Chibi, while you're at it, pack some extra clothes, towel, toiletries and some sheets and pillowcase unless you want to sleep on a carrot bed." The Chunin stopped climbing and looked at his instructor with curiosity.

"Because, my apartment is closer to the training grounds and training periods are going to be very irregular. So if we finish around late night you can bunk in at my place." Naruto explained, he didn't want to scare the boy by informing his decision to petition for guardianship for him. Also it was better to allow the Chunin to become used to the idea of living with him instead of rushing into things. 'Got to avoid doing too much too soon.'

Kakashi nodded, understanding what the Jounin was trying to say, and entered his apartment. 'Way too clean and organised for a six year old.' Thought the blonde as he took in his surroundings. Sitting in the living room, he observed the apartment. Nothing had changed at all in the past and future. Every piece of furniture, picture and ornament was in the same exact place it was in another twenty five years. If it wasn't for sight of a six year old Kakashi running around, Naruto would have thought he was back in his own time period.

It didn't long for the prodigy to shower, change and pack his bag. Dressed in an outfit similar to what he had been wearing earlier, the prodigy entered the living room.

"Got everything?" The blonde asked, "Clothes? Sheets? Essentials? Money?"

"We- I don't keep money in the house, when I needed any I would take it from the bank."

"Valuables? I noticed there are some basic seals against break in, but bring the heirloom with you."

"How do you-"

There was only one heirloom that belonged to the Hatake Clan, White Light Chakra Sabre. A simple tanto. It wasn't really an heirloom, it belonged to Sakumo which was passed onto his son once he died. When he became Hokage he had come across all the mission reports of Team Minato and he found out about it being destroyed on their last mission. Not much of history to classify it as heirloom, but enough for Kakashi to do so. "It's my job requirement. Now keep that on you at all times." Quickly retrieving the small sword, the prodigy nodded.

"So my place first and then Training Ground Eleven. Let's get you settled in before anything else." Concentrating a bit the whiskered Jounin informed the young Chunin, "Hold on to my hand really tight. Side along body flicker is tricky."

Locking up the apartment up, the Hatake heir gripped his Master's hand tightly and asked "Have you done this before?"

"There is always a first for everything."

The silver haired apprentice didn't have a chance to react.

* * *

The teacher and his student arrived at the Training Ground Eleven, in an ungraceful heap. Groaning Naruto rolled Kakashi of him and said,

"Well, looks like I'm improving. Give it a couple of more shots and we actually might appear standing upright."

Brushing the dirt of his flak jacket, the silver haired companion replied "Please practice with someone else." Smirking under his mask he casually suggested "Like Namikaze-san."

"C'mon, Chibi. At least we arrived in the same spot. And I would die if I tried this with Minato."

'Actually he might die of landing on top of you.' the Chunin prodigy corrected his teacher mentally.

"Okay, I know you have some questions. Let's hear them out."

"Kazama-shishou, wha-"

"You will call me Naruto-sensei and nothing else, clear?" The blonde jounin suppressed the urge to shudder at the respectful term.

Kakashi nodded and corrected himself "Naruto-sensei, what are you specialised in?"

Naruto frowned and asked "What do you mean by that?"

'He doesn't know?'"Apprenticeship is based on training in an individual field and becoming specialised in that particular area. So what are you specialised in?"

'Woah! Loaded question! What am I specialised in?' The whiskered shinobi thought back on to his abilities. The Sandaime gave him this job to help the little Hatake prodigy; there was no other reason than that and he clearly cannot tell the Gaki. After somewhat a long pause, Naruto decided to go with the truth.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" The little prodigy dutifully repeated with disbelief in his voice.

"Yes, Gaki. I am specialised in nothing."

"But then how can you..." The boy trailed off clearly confused.

"Chibi, have you heard of the term 'Jack of all trades and master of none'?"

The prodigy nodded and then it hit him what his teacher was trying to say, "You are specialised in nothing. In other words,you are specialised in everything."

"You compliment me far too much, Chibi." Naruto patted the boy's head, earning a annoyed huff. "I'm not specialised in everything." Assassination, torture, executions were not his bowl of ramen. Unless needed to fulfil the mission. "I am just all purpose."

Kakashi seemed confused, but nodded.

"Anything else?" The Jounin asked, when he got a no from the child he continued, "If there is anything else feel free to ask." Clapping his hands, "Now to move on to your training." Examining the silver haired prodigy for moment the blonde instructor began,

"You are tiny."

Kakashi glared at that statement.

"What are you glaring at me for? Truth hurts, Chibi."

The Jounin earned a disgruntled sigh. 'This is going to be fun.' The whiskered blonde grinned at that thought.

"Since you are tiny and still young, we cannot do much of ninjutsu and elemental chakra has to wait until your chakra system matures and settles for an affinity. But I have a feeling you are going to be a Lighting type. All the ninjutsu you know is D-rank excluding Body flicker which is C-rank. We have to boost your chakra capacity if we want to go on to non-elemental ninjutsu."

Naruto paused and looked at his student who nodded his head as a sign to go on, "Taijustu, I like your modified version, but that is only good for now. You will find some problems when you grow up. So we have to find you a style you can use now and later. Hell, even we can find some styles, mix them up and create something totally new. Like cooking."

The silver haired prodigy chose not to make any comment at the last statement.

"Genjutsu, well sorry Gaki, but I am no help there. I can teach you stuff to be acceptable but not to become above the others. Kenjutsu, I can teach you but I have no proper style, only bastardisation and Fuuninjutsu, depends on if you are interested in it."

"What we have to work on is your stamina, taijutsu and chakra capacity. With that we can move on to ninjutsu and genjutsu. With age and the proper training the others will naturally come, like strength and hand seals."

When Naruto finished his analysis on his student he caught the blank stare of his student. "What are you looking at me for, Chibi? Go climb some tree."

'This is a mistake.' Thought the boy before he began to walk up the trunk.

* * *

_Two months later..._

"Now, Chibi." Naruto announced effectively capturing the already captured attention of his student with the customary term of endearment. Ignoring the usual glare from his disciplined student he carried on with his speech.

"I feel that you are ready to learn a ninjutsu."

'Finally!' His silver haired apprentice thought as he let out a sigh of relief, forgetting his annoyance at his teacher he looked up at the sunny haired jounin in well contained excitement.

"As I said before, you are too young to know your elemental type and you still don't have the reserves to pull off kick-ass jutsus. Since I am awesome and you are my student, you have the responsibility to be awesome as well. So I was scavenging my mental library for a kick-ass jutsu for you and I found one that didn't require much, reserves, control and was quite easy to learn."

'He's going to teach me an E-rank ninjutsu?' Kakashi felt the bubble of happiness pop.

Catching his students expression the Jounin lightly wacked him on the head, "Gaki, this is one of my original creations. It was labelled a Kinjutsu by the Kage of that time, for there was no defence against it. It took down the Kage, Ero-sennin and many other formidable opponents effortlessly."

"If it's a Kinjutsu, doesn't that make it prohibited to teach?"

"Chibi, do you want to learn the jutsu or not?"

Kakashi nodded vigorously.

"As for the demonstration we need an opponent to witness the full effect of it."

"I'm still here."

"That would be redundant. If you get knocked out how am I going to teach you?"

"You just wake me up... Blondes..."

"I heard that, Gaki. And I'm sorry princess, but as you can see, I don't carry smelling salts with me."

"I'm male."

"I am aware of that."

"Good, for a moment I thought you were blind."

"But then again it's hard to say with that mask."

"I'm not taking the mask off."

"You will have to someday."

"That day isn't coming anytime soon."

"With me around, it'll be sooner than you think."

"...Can we just learn the jutsu?"

"So let us go find an opponent."

"Isn't that illegal? Using Kinjutsus on random, innocent people."

"That's why we are going to the Hokage."

"How does that solve everything?"

"Chibi you disappoint me. Aren't you supposed to be a prodigy or something?"

"What does that have to do with using a dangerous forbidden jutsu on people as demonstrations?"

"I greatly object to spoon feeding, but I'll let it slide this one time." Naruto shook his head in disapproval. "The Hokage is the most powerful shinobi in the village, right?"

"Correct."

"He is powerful and in no matter defenceless, isn't he?"

"He is, what does that... Wait... You aren't telling me that you going to..."

"And we have a winner." Patting the Chunin's head like a dog. "I knew you had in you. Yes, we are going to use the jutsu on the Sandaime. Otherwise how are you going to witness the true awesomeness of it?"

"Were you dropped on the head, when you were child?"

* * *

**Glossary**

Tanto- a single or double edge blade with length between 6-12 inches.

**A/N:**Okay… here is chapter twelve a week later, but remember I'll try to keep a weekly update, so no promises guys.

So in this chapter we see Minato is jealous but he doesn't realise it. Kakashi figures out that our blonde captain has the hots for our other blonde jounin, before either of them realise it. And Naruto realises nothing so far in this department.

I wanted to paint a colourful picture of the student-teacher relationship… Well, I'm guessing, you guys already know which jutsu Kakashi is going to learn.

Reviews are the food for an author, so you guys don't feed me; I starve and die (basic science). Anything is welcomed and if it's criticism, it has to be constructive. Other than that, please drop in a word (or words), questions, suggestions, opinions, comments, corrections etc.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N:** ... Well... I cannot say anything about the delay... except advise you that don't try to bite off more than you chew. Been flooded with work and stress, but that's life ain't it? I want to thank you all for patiently waiting for the next chapter and I read all your messages and reviews, so I reward you by filling out some requests... In short, enjoy!

**Warnings**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Naruto hummed happily as he walked down the streets.

Tuning out his cute little chunin apprentice's ranting... something to do with him getting himself killed by his illogical reasoning and stupidity. Not that he really cared, the little prodigy had to learn, with him around, nothing made sense and it seemed the silver haired boy would be learning that the hard way.

As his body went into auto pilot, its destination set on the Hokage tower, the Jounin allowed his mind to wander through the past two months.

His cute little student had been improving at quite an alarming rate, his chakra capacity had doubled and his stamina had tripled. His perception on the rules and the ninja way of life had yet to improve, but slowly, bit by bit the gaki had been loosening up. Yet to crack, but he was getting there. The silver haired prodigy had been slowly increasing the frequency of his time spent at his place. More clothes had been shifted to his place, more nights spent in the spare bedroom and slowly personal belongings had been moving into the living room.

Naruto was planning to slowly coax the boy into hit apartment, so when he petitioned for guardianship and broke the news to the tiny chunin, it wouldn't overwhelm him.

Whistling, he thought back on his time spent here. Minato and he had been hitting it right off. Eating breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Ichiraku, with Chibi. Building up the Captain's alcohol tolerance, painfully slow, but they were getting somewhere. At least now he didn't pass out after the first bottle, but was only a little buzzed. But that was with a full stomach and with the aid of bites between the drinks. Even though the relationship had been progressing, the teen seemed awfully skittish around him and alert.

'Paranoia.' The Jounin mused, shaking his head, 'Really have to speak to Jiji about this.'

Just then he saw a group of beautiful women, giggle and wave at him. Giving them, one of his trademark foxy grins he waved back. All of them were regulars at Anraku.

Speaking of ladies, He hadn't bumped into Kushina. 'Hmmm, another question to ask Jiji.' and he continued walking towards the Hokage Residence, with a still ranting Chunin beside him.

* * *

Kushina was angry.

Well, she'd crossed that bridge a few weeks ago, now she was downright pissed.

For the past one and a half months, since the doctors had released her from the hospital, she had been trying to locate this mystery shinobi. She had a name, a face and a chakra signature, but still, she could not find the blonde haired ninja.

The red head had heard stories from both men and women, about his amazing 'Emperor of the Night' skills, while maintaining his perfect gentleman 'd heard all about how good he was, but never found out about where he lived, apparently he slept at their place not his. She'd tried to search for his chakra, which was pretty unique, but every time she thought she'd located it, the signature disappeared. Sure, she was angry that the Jounin seemed to have escaped her multiple times, but what drove her to the edge was, the fact that she'd felt the uptight prick of an ANBU Captain's signature for a moment before, the Jounin's signature disappeared. It had happened more than once.

It seemed the only way of meeting the shinobi, was by visiting Anraku. She didn't like to meet the man, in such a way, but the blonde Captain wasn't giving her much of a choice.

'Two can play this game.' she looked in her cupboard for something to wear, for their meeting.

'Bring it, Blondie. The Red-Head's got moves too.'

* * *

_Minato stared into the unblinking gaze. The fire light bathed his companion in a soothing orange glow. The man's hair was coloured a darker shade but still shone gold for the illumination. The Jounin's blue eyes flashed purple against the red flames. They were transfixed on him, as if there was nothing else around him. Something flickered in the depths of the violet orbs, which made the prodigy's heartbeat accelerate in pace and strength._

_Wetting his lips unconsciously, the younger blonde watched as the whiskered shinobi slowly begin to approach him. When the taller male was just in front of him, Minato felt a strong arm wrap around his waist. Impulsively the paler shinobi followed the unvocal guidance the other shinobi offered and leaned into the man's gentle embrace._

_Not breaking the lengthy stare, Minato registered the welcoming warmth on the right cheek of his face. It wasn't from the camp fire, for he felt a comforting roughness stroke his skin in a slow lazy manner. Closing his eyes he relished the attention Naruto was showering him with._

_The smaller blonde concentrated on the of the whiskered blonde's hands as they leisurely skimmed his face. His cheeks, nose, eyes, brow and jaw. Mapping everything through touch. Minato could feel the Jounin's concentrated gaze against his flesh, which resulted in sending shivers of pleasure to run down his spine._

_Minato allowed his hands to roam the much larger frame that belonged to Naruto before settling down circle the Jounin's waist. Therefore further tightening the embrace he was being held in. The temperature wasn't cold, in fact it was summer and it was fairly warm. But Minato craved for warmth. He didn't want the heat the fire emitted. He hungered for the warmth only the shinobi embracing him possessed._

_Suddenly he felt the Jounin's long rough fingers leave his face. Cracking his eyes open, Minato met the pair Prussian blue eyes looking down at him. They didn't have their usual energetic sparkle, but it was replaced with a mysterious glint of something more intense and stirring._

_Minato felt Naruto's absent hand return, but it didn't return to his face. He could feel the four fingers curl under his chin, and slowly begin to lift it up. Then the thumb of the Jounin's hand brushed the younger shinobi's lower lip ever so lightly. This caused Minato to have a sharp intake of breath. _

_With his lips still tingling form the brief contact, Minato felt something else touch them. Unlike the quick brushing of the thumb, the physical contact was longer. It was softer and more moist. That was when he realised it._

_Naruto was kissing him. _

A certain blonde Captain cursed silently as he nearly fell off his perch. One of his teammates looked at him in alarm, but he waved it off. He had been having the same type of dream ever since he started spending time with the Jounin. The content became more 'affectionate' (he refused to call it romantic) when he, by chance, spotted the whiskered blonde leaving his favourite boozing place with a man (he still 'watched' the Jounin from a distance). The frequency of the dreams, increased when he overheard two men discuss their best lay, which had been done by a certain whiskered blonde.

It took a lot out of the teen to admit that he was crushing hard on the new shinobi.

The Captain tried to reason that he was most probably frustrated and needed to get laid, and since he had a very sexually appealing neighbour, with a great personality, it resulted in this attraction. But no matter how much he tried to reason with himself. He could not help but want it to be more than a one night stand.

He was jealous of the silver haired Hatake prodigy, for the simple fact the Chunin spent more time with the blonde than he did and was actually living with the object of his affections. Fortunately for the six year, old the Captain was still enough of a by-the- book shinobi, to not take it out on the boy. However, a certain red head wasn't as fortunate enough to receive the same leniency.

The foxed masked ANBU couldn't explain his behaviour, and didn't want to explain it, towards the wave refugee. Though for some odd reason, he had a great inexplicable dislike towards the tomato-head.

Puzzled, Minato thought back on what possibly could be the reason for hatred towards the girl.

Uzumaki Kushina was a loud, brash, unpredictable street smart teenager, who possessed temper as fiery as her hair. She had crude humour coupled with immaturity and silliness. The sixteen year old was well know among the shinobi for her beauty. Long, thick, red hair that was a deep plume in colour. Eyes that were a shade of blue, similar to his own. The Uzumaki possessed a slender, but feminine build. Strangely enough, even though she had such physical aspects, from what he had heard, she didn't have a single bone of feminity within her.

Personally, he didn't know much about her, even though they were in the same class during the academy and he was a victim to more than one of her pranks. From the very beginning, they both had a mutual understanding that they would never get along, they were just too different and way they saw things were on opposite sides of the universe. But there was nothing that gave him a reason to justify the dislike he felt towards her.

But even though his logical reasoning told him that there wasn't anything that could give him a reason to dislike her, he just did.

'Maybe the hate I have for her has no reason, and that's the reason I hate her for.' The blonde fox masked ninja thought happily , as if he had finally figured out a mindboggling puzzle. But a moment latter, his bubble of new found happiness popped as soon as he realized,

'And... that makes no sense.'

Quite depressed that he still couldn't figure out the answer to his personal mystery, he sighed and continued his watch on the village leader. But his depression was short lived when he felt a familiar chakra flare approaching the Hokage recidence.

* * *

Upon reaching the Hokage Residence, Naruto suddenly turned and bent down to meet his student at eye level and spoke very seriously.

"Now Chibi, You must remain silent and observe very carefully every detail of this Jutsu and record it in that photographic freaky mind of yours. We only have one shot and we got to make it count."

"There is no WE, There is only a YOU. I happen to be a victim of circumstances."

"Chibi, when you grow older, you will thank me."

"I will thank you, when you're six feet under."

"Are you always like this towards your superiors?"

"Only to the retarded ones."

"The difference between insanity and genius, is success."

"Which doesn't seem to have come by these days."

"For I gave it leave."

"What..."

For a moment the silver haired prodigy, saw his teacher turn into a sage."Chibi, you cannot be successful all the time. There are off days for everyone and in my case, I gave it leave." Once the whiskered Jounin had finished his words of wisdom, he quickly dashed up the building, motioning his student to follow him. Letting out a frustrated sighed the Chunin did as he was told.

Sarutobi was on a short break from his paperwork. Ever since his assistants had found that he could beat the bane of every Hokage's existence, they'd doubled his load, saying they didn't want him to become lazy and useless.

'It's harsh, that no one understands the horror of paperwork, especially when your Hokage.' The professor mused, as he finished another chapter of his pupil's book. Just like any other teacher out there, he had to show support for his student's work, and since it was a draft of the Toad sage's work he was safe, for there was a blank cover.

"Whatcha reading, Jiji?"

Carefully and discreetly containing his panic and heart attack, at the surprised entry of the whiskered annoyance, he hurled the paperweight at the menace and tucked the draft in safely out of sight.

"A report of Jiraiya's findings." He casually replied as the blonde distraction caught the paperweight and tossed it back.

Stepping into the room with his student, Naruto began, "It's-" glancing at the child, "P-O-R-N, isn't it?"

"I can spell, sensei." Kakashi comment, red in the face due to anger and embarrassment.

"Well, what do you know? You learn something new every day."

"For you, that is."

"And for you, every hour, since you have lived less than me."

"Just tell me, why are you two here?" The Sandaime asked, still dealing with the sting of his cover being blown.

"Sensei, wants to try a Kinjutsu on you." The six year old piped in.

The third Hokage blinked.

Naruto grinned sheepishly, and wacked his apprentice in the process.

The ANBU team just froze.

After a few moments of tensed silence, a still grinning Naruto broke the heavy atmosphere by (stage) whispering to his silver haired apprentice, "Smooth Chibi, real smooth."

Turning towards the Hokage, the jounin scratched his head sheepishly and began, "Well, in a very summarised version... Yes. BUT!" he screamed immediately before the ANBU could turn him into their personal pincushion, "What the Gaki really meant is-"

"I didn't mean anything." The prepubescent boy piped in again.

"Gaki, shut up." The whiskered blond replied without breaking eye contact with the Sandaime, "What he really meant is that, his awesome teacher wants to teach him a new jutsu but can't because it's so amazing it needs to be demonstrated on someone to witness the grandness of it."

The Third Hokage blinked.

Taking that as a sign to continue, the blonde Jounin hinted, "But the problem is that the Sandaime in 'my' village classified it as a Kinjutsu."

"Then why are you teaching your apprentice a Kinjutsu?"

"The jutsu isn't devastating to the user, unless he wants it to be, and it doesn't harm the victim, well, not that much."

"Then how did it earn the Kinjutsu rank?"

"You would have to ask the Old Man, Jiji." Naruto grinned at the deadpan look the Hokage gave him. After a short pause, the Sandaime caved into his curiosity and agreed to be the test subject for the whiskered jounin. "Don't worry Jiji, you do not have to be a practice dummy, you can be ready to attack me."

Just when they were about to leave, the ANBU squad appeared and hinted that they were arriving as well.

"Gaki , let's get this finished and be done with." Sarutobi commented, now in his battle amour.

"I have a teleportation Jutsu." Naruto suggested, seeing the nod from the professor and the alarmed look of Kakashi, he continued, "Everybody, hold hands."

On one hand he had Kakashi's extremely reluctant palm and in the other, the fox mask ANBU.

Seeing that everyone was connected, the Jounin flickred everyone out of the place and everything went black.

A few seconds later Minato opened his eyes and he found himself in a very embarrassing position. He was indeed in the middle of the Training Ground Eleven, but with a small difference. The ANBU Captain was on his back on the grass with a certain passed out whiskered blonde Jounin pinning him to the floor. The older blonde's face was lodged at the connection of where his neck and shoulder met and one of his legs wedge between the younger shinobi's legs. If it weren't for the fact that the jounin was passed out on top of him, the ANBU Captain would have thought that the jounin would have done this on purpose.

Minato was certain that his fox mask was going to melt into his skin for the amount he was releasing due to embarrassment.

He was the youngest ANBU Captain in the history of Konohagakure, he was a prodigy and the strongest ninja in the village coming second only to the Hokage, yet he lost all sense of rational thought when it came to this jounin. He couldn't find the strength to push the older shinobi of him, and when he tried to find the will to move away from being under the shinobi, his mind wandered 'involuntarily' to how much larger the older shinobi was, or how warm his breath was against his skin, then to how physically fit he was and finally to how close his lips were, that if he shifted his head, their lips would brush.

'Go on, just a few inches away from making all your fantasies come true.' A little voice whispered into his ear. He was about to move his hand to shift his mask, when he felt a draft of cool air and saw a pair of blue eyes, only a shade darker than their usual colour stare back at him.

"Kami, sorry about that, the technique still has a few...glitches." Naruto said quickly springing off the ANBU, after a very awkward moment between them, for the whiskered Jounin need it to sink into his head that he was on top of someone and how 'intimate' the position was.

"It is not a problem." Minato replied in a tight voice. He was desperately trying not to let the disappointment seep into his tone. The seventeen year old did succeed, but ended up sounding angry. Which is how his sunny haired companion interpreted it, and ended up giving him a full blown pout, accompanied by a very professional puppy dog face.

'Here is a man, who was a Kage, who is seal master, who can intimidate the Hokage, the Captain of the ANBU squad and the ANBU members by just killing intent. Yet he chooses to use that 'technique'.' The younger shinobi thought as he stifled a laugh and forced a sigh of resignation.

Once Naruto heard the sigh of forgiveness, he bounced back to his usual self saying , "Well, since that's sorted, let's go find us our travel mates."

"The ones that you lost."

"I have the brat to put me down; I do not need another ego deflator in my life. The Chibi can be a real self-esteem pumper."

Minato smiled underneath his mask at the defensiveness of the jounin.

"Also for your information, I did not lose them. They merely were misplaced upon arrival."

* * *

Naruto took a deep thoughtful breath as he walked towards the direction that he felt some chakra signatures. Despite his outward cheerful and impervious behaviour, underneath he was suffering from collaborated apocalyptic attack of panic, confusion and arousal. The latter was the primary cause of the previous two. Regardless of his valiant efforts to erase, what he thought, felt and smelt a few moments ago, he could still recall every minute detail in extreme vivid proportions.

_There was something underneath him._

_Something soft, small and warm. Something that smelled pleasant and his sensitive ears picked up a very soothing rhythmic thumping, that was lulling him into a very blissful sleep. That was when it hit him._

_There was someone underneath him._

_He still hadn't mastered the technique, so he must have landed somewhere close to the training ground. Even though he was becoming better with the teleportation, he still reverted to the same greenness he had when there were a larger group of travellers. Somehow he managed to 'land' on someone close by and someone that was his type. The whiskered face jounin mentally grinned at that fact. Whoever thought that the universe was against him was severely wrong._

_Faking unconsciousness, Naruto used his other sense to map out his 'pillow' (or mattress, technicalities didn't matter to him in times like this). Judging from the flatness of the chest, his pillow was male. A shinobi, from the lean build and the clothing. The ninja was smaller than him, for his sandals brushed the Jounin's calves and his shoulders enveloped the male underneath him. The shinobi smelt clean but had no scent, which was mandatory by ninja law. However it was a pleasant and welcoming change after he has been nearly gassed by multitude of perfume and colognes, by a multitude of bed partners._

_In short the human being trapped beneath the whiskered face Jounin was exactly what he had been looking for. The complementing other half._

'No point just lying here, doing nothing.' Naruto thought and he lifted himself when he felt the figure beneath him stir. Opening his eyes he drank in the sight of the root cause of his excitement to act upon those desires, what he did not expect was an awfully familiar fox mask glaring at him.

'Shit... the universe is against me.'

* * *

**A/N:** Happy? I hope so... If anyone is out of character please alert me. I have transformed into a full blown workaholic, so my writing style has changed... (been typing out too many research proposal, reports, briefing papers etc.)... and to end with a sad note, my interests have wandered into other fandoms, so I'll be updating when I have the inspiration and time...

I, like any author out there loves the feedback, so take some time and drop a word (or words)... can be anything, you know the usual... (comments, suggestion, opinions, correction and constructive criticism)...


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

**A/N:** Well I finally found the inspiration to write this chapter and I hope my creativity will stick around... I must thank you all for your reviews and patience; they were part of the reason for the revival of my interest to type this instalment... So keep them coming... Enough of me, you guys waited a long time for this, so enjoy!

**Warnings**

Shounen-Ai

Incest- NaruMina

Somewhat Betaed

* * *

**Times Are Strange**

**Chapter Fourteen**

"Tough crowd." Naruto muttered as he recalled 'The Incident'. Who would have known that back then the Konoha shinobi were all prudish and closet perverts.

_The blonde looked around, mentally checking off a list to see whether everyone was accounted for. After he was certain that he wasn't being held accounted for, for anyone's disappearance he turned to his adorable yet seething little genius. He had to admit, he hadn't known that the human face could turn that colour. 'Fascinating.' The jounin thought before announcing,_

"_Alright, everyone let's recap what we are doing and why we are here." He paused, for a response but all he got was silence. 'They still must be pissed about getting misplaced. Talk about holding a grudge. No wonder Sasuke turned into, whatever he turned into.'_

"_We are here, because my short genius brat of a student needs to learn an awe-inspiring and persuasive Jutsu. However, the Jutsu must be performed on an opponent to witness the extent of its destructive power of it and how effective it is."_

_Everyone blinked at his speech as if the Jounin had spoken a different language, except for the Sandaime who lifted tan eyebrow in reply._

_Sighing and rolling his eyes at the group Naruto fell into a basic stance. Seeing this, the village leader also mimicked the whiskered blonde. Both men knew this wasn't a real spar, just a demonstration of a Jutsu, which somehow managed to claim a Kinjutsu status. This situation led to a leakage of excitement and adrenaline into the surrounding nins' system. The ANBU were inching slowly towards their sword, the silver haired prodigy had also begun to finger the kunai on his thigh. _

_It wasn't every day that one got to see two Kage level shinobi engage in a 'spar'._

_A couple of heart beats later, Naruto whispered, "Jiji, attack me."_

_The response was instantaneous, The Sandaime charged at him with full speed. There was no such a thing as a 'friendly spar' in shinobi books. No matter how (trivial?) the reason, nins always took it seriously._

_The Jounin sensei waited for the Kage to be an arm's length away from him before unleashing the 'deadly' Kinjutsu._

_To the audience surrounding the Kage level shinobi saw the event begin with the tension seeping subtly into the air as the two nins assessed each other. Then at the pinnacle of the battled fuelled energy, they saw the village leader leap at a frightening pace towards his opponent, who in turn remained still. Assuming that the blonde shinobi was surprised at the amount of speed the old Kage displayed, they watched as The Sandaime rapidly approach the Jounin._

_However they didn't expect the shinobi to release his jutsu so close to the Kage. For soon as the elderly village head was in arm's length of his opponent, the said adversary made the hand seal used for an average henge and discharged a large amount of smoke. Thinking that the smoke had a poisons quality the Kage jumped back a little. Although, when the smoke cleared, The Sandaime was greeted with a sight, which propelled him further back by a force unknown to him._

_To others, it was his nosebleed._

_When the surrounding audience caught a glimpse of what made the Kage currently unconscious, it made them both speechless and unable to decide on how to react towards the whiskered Jounin. The blonde hadn't touched the third Hokage in any offensive manner, so they couldn't apprehend him and taking into account that this was a 'spar' the Hokage had given his consent to didn't help resolve matters either._

_Only the youngest member of the group seemed to have retained cognitive and verbal function, because once the Chunin finished studying the naked blonde figure, he responded with clearly evident disbelief and disappointment._

"_You want me to learn THAT?"_

* * *

The Jounin rubbed his bruised cheek absently and he pondered 'Chibi has a very strong roundhouse kick.' The silver haired prodigy hadn't seemed to like the answer his blonde haired teacher had provided and responded with a physical gesture that was deemed disrespectful in many Jounin-Sensei's books, including his.

'Brighter side of things is that the brat is becoming very expressive in his body language.' Naruto though optimistically, though still rubbing his previously injured cheek.

His phantom pains were cut short when an amused voice stated, "You really shouldn't have antagonised your student like that."

Blinking out of his deep thoughtful moment the Jounin glanced at owner of the voice.

ANBU Captain, Namikaze Minato.

Mentally chuckling and restraining the excitement, Naruto recapped what led them to be travelling towards The Land of Frost. The Hokage and the council had decided that cutting off the land access of Kumogakure, would prevent majority of the shinobi of the Land of Lighting from entering the war. There was an abyss between the Land Of Frost and the Land Of Lighting. However there were three bridges that linked both countries. Shimogakure was currently in neutral status, but if they were forced to choose a side it would be against Konoha.

This had lead to the Sandaime choosing to send two of his most powerful shinobi to create an unfortunate incident, which would lead to the destruction of the three bridges. The old man chooses two nins to remain inconspicuous, for not many would consider that two people would cause such damage. In addition to that he choose the two blondes due to their similar looks would enable them to make their undercover of travelling civilian brothers more believable as well as since Naruto was chakra power house needed supervision, and the only person so far capable of doing that was a certain blonde haired ANBU Captain.

'A whole load of bull.' The Jounin, currently dressed in civilians clothing, that consisted of ice blue gi and black hakama made for winter, thought, 'Jiji wants revenge, so he stuck me with the most prudish shinobi that ever existed till the birth of Neji.' The teen (who was dressed in a similar outfit except the gi being mint green), didn't even react to his 'Kinjutsu', either the ANBU was a late bloomer or he held no interested in women.

'Nahh!' Naruto mentally shook head at the thought of the latter, 'I'm practically living proof that Mina-Kun is a skirt chaser.'

"Chibi has to learn that even the most harmless techniques can be the most lethal, given the perfect situation." The whiskered jounin replied with his trademark grin.

"That wasn't a technique!" Minato replied indigently, "What that was, was disrespectful objectification of our female counterparts."

'Unbelievable!' The jinchuuriki blinked momentarily stunned. After a few moment of shocked silence, the jounin gathered his thoughts and grabbing the smaller blonde by the shoulders, Naruto inquired with great concern.

"Were you really taught by Jiraiya? Or was that just a farce?"

His answer was a painful slap to his other cheek.

* * *

Behind his constant sunny smile, the Jounin's mental state was in an emotional turmoil. This was the first time he had left his apprentice alone, even though he had informed the Hokage and requested for some protection for the Chunin. Naruto knew from experience, that bullies would take any opening they could find to dish out their intentions to cause harm and when the preventing the abusers to do what they please, generally escalates the intensity of the cruelty handed out.

This is why the whiskered haired Jounin, demanded that the he would not leave Konoha either until suitable protection would be provided for his apprentice during his absence or until he deemed the Chunin able to protect himself. The Sandaime seeing the underlying reason to reinforce the blonde's stubbornness, agreed.

Little did the blonde haired Jounin-Sensei know that his silver haired apprentice had been placed in the temporary care of one, Mitarashi Hanami.

As the blonde duo left the Land of Hot Water and entering the Land of Frost, Naruto's mind went back to the conversation he had with his student before he left on the mission.

"_I cannot believe you transformed into THAT, in front of the Hokage and the ANBU." The chunin complained, his voice still tight and high pitched due to suppressed anger. _

"_Well 'that' took out the Hokage and majority of the squad." The blonde countered calmly, as he methodically laid out the supplies he would need for the mission._

_Naruto didn't need to look at the six year olds face to see the frustrations seeping out. His cheek still throbbed and the fox was still on strike._

"_That was a filthy and disrespectful Jutsu, it doesn't even deserve the title Jutsu." The jounin could almost hear the anger climbing and flooding into the boy's tone._

_Suddenly turning around and kneeling so he was eye level with his student, the blonde looked straight into the masked child's eyes. He must have looked intimidating without his trademark smile, for he could see the flicker of fear and trepidation fly across the child's obsidian orbs. Placing his hands on the small and delicate shoulders, while maintaining eye contact, Naruto spoke so softly yet seriously to his genius student. _

"_We are entering war, nobody is accepting the fact but that won't prevent it from happening." The child was too young to hear such things. "And in war, Kakashi, people will play dirty, no one is going to fight fair and it is always brutal." He allowed the words to sink in before continuing._

"_There is no such thing as being noble in battle, especially for us. You do what you can to protect the people you love and the place you call home. People will die, survivors will be scarred for life and grief will rip through everyone, including the enemy. For in war, there are no winners, all we have is survivors." Thinking of how he met Minato, the blonde added, "What you can do is, do what is only necessary and keep your comrades in line. Since warfare only allows you to be unethical during the battle, not outside of it. How you treat your enemy outside the boundaries of war speaks words no peace negotiation could. "_

_The speech seemed to have pacified the silver haired boy, for the child nodded his head in understanding before glaring back with determination. "But I still won't learn that 'Jutsu'." He spoke with annoyance tinting his tone._

_Naruto smiled and ruffled the boy's hair before returning to his packing. However his apprentice didn't leave his room. Instead the child seemed to indecisive about something, for the he was shifting his weight from one foot to another and is eyes were fixed on the floor beneath his feet._

_Smiling gently the jounin sat down on the floor and patted the spot next to him. Kakashi immediately complied, but still refused to meet the blonde's gaze. After a few moments of awkward silence, the older male decided to throw a bone._

"_You know, I'm your sensei, you can tell me anything no matter how stupid you think it may sound."_

_Soon as those words left his mouth the boy genius spat out his troubled thoughts, "Do you have to leave?"_

_Naruto blinked in surprise, he didn't think the prodigy would have become so attached this quickly, but he smiled in return and placed a hand on the pre-pubescent boys head. "Unfortunately, I have to go."_

"_Can't you ask someone else to take it?" The blonde could nearly see the blush the child was sporting through the material._

"_I could, but the Hokage specifically asked for my presence."_

"_Oh..." there was undisguised disappointment in the Chunin's voice. _

_There was brief pause, before the chunin motioned to stand up, but the whiskered jounin applied a small amount of pressure he had laid on the boy to convey the hint that the conversation wasn't over. _

"_However, I demanded from Jiji that I would not leave unless you were looked out for or until I believe you are able to take care of yourself."_

"_I can take care of myself." Kakashi replied sounding offended._

"_Yes you can, but only one-on-one. Not against a gang, this is most likely how they will approach you."_

_The chunin didn't have an appropriate verbal response, so he nodded._

_Taking it as a cue to continue, "He told me you would be placed in temporary care of good friend of mine."_

"_Who is that?" The six year olds childish curiosity surfaced. The person who fit that category was the ANBU Captain, and he was going on the same mission. Rest were acquaintance or casual liaisons._

"_Come to think of it, the Old man didn't say." The blonde tapped his chin with his index finger in deep thought._

"_You don't know?" The apprentice asked in disbelief, but somewhere in the recess of his mind he expected it from his teacher._

"_I wouldn't worry about it, Chibi." The jounin waved it off with his hand before standing up to return to his packing. Kakashi could only gape beneath his mask._

"_Jiji knows I would start to the trade union if any harm comes to you, so he would place you with someone I could trust."_

_For some reason the Hatake prodigy didn't feel reassured at all._

* * *

"You seem awfully preoccupied."

At the voice of his comrade, Naruto snapped out of his memories instantaneously and smiled sheepishly at the amused look the teen wore.

"Sorry, was thinking about Chibi."

"It's alright, for a moment I thought you went catatonic, because I called your name three times."

"Mina-kun is worried about me? I'm touched."

"Don't read too much into it."

"How can I? I was taught to look underneath the underneath."

"Sometimes underneath the underneath, is merely the surface of the other side."

"Now you've lost me."

"How did you become Kage, again?"

"Through the use of my good looks, captivating personality and dazzling brilliance."

"Not your baffling bullshit?"

"You wound me, Mina-chan; underneath this perfect example of the human body are unexplored depths of knowledge and wisdom." And he unleashed his killer grin.

Fighting the urge to blush, "I don't buy it Naru-chan."

"Then you are welcome to explore those depths."

Letting out a strangled squawk, Minato punched the other blonde again, "You are incorrigible."

Effectively evading the clenched fist, "Mina-kun, when I said I like being hit on I didn't mean it in the literal term." Before dashing into a run towards the border.

Frustrated at the teasing, Minato ran towards him. At first the teen was confused at what the older blonde was doing, but once becoming aware of the chakra signatures that surrounded them, realisation hit him. The Jounin was acting in civilian manner from the start to play the surrounding hidden shinobi. How he missed them, he still didn't know. But they were now convinced that the blonde duo were a pair of travelling civilians, since they relaxed the suppression on their chakra.

When he caught up with the other blonde, he faked his exhaustion at the gate. The older blonde was already engaging the guards in an animate conversation.

'Charming personality.' The ANBU Captain scoffed, before jogging towards the other blond, who was now waving at him.

The guards seemed to be at ease as they checked their papers. Naruto played the confident older brother role while the teen played the shy younger brother. The security personal asked a few questions as to the reason for their visit and to which the jounin fed them the concocted story, of visiting relatives. Since they both looked alike and had fair features like many of the in habitants of Shimo, they bought it.

When they cleared the gate, Minato turned to ask, "What were you talking to them about?"

"On how you were an uptight prude, and the misery of having you as my brother."

"INARI!" Minato yelled out the Jounin's alias as he chased the older blonde down the road.

"I knew you would be a screamer."

The ANBU picked up a rock and threw it at the whiskered blonde using his training.

"Ow! Fuck!" was the reply at the sound of stone hitting its intended target. To the teen, it was music for his ears.

* * *

Soon as they were sure that there were no other shinobi around, the blonde duo shed their civilian clothing and revealed their shinobi outfits. Tying the white standard issue winter cloaks around their neck, the two Konoha shinobis launched into the trees. After travelling a considerable distance, they pair found themselves coming across an unseen obstacle.

A blizzard.

Feeling the beginning of the cutting chill of the wind that blew, they both knew they would have to find temporary shelter and since they couldn't take refuge in Shimogakure they had to find it fast. It was the beginnings of the storm, when Naruto noticed his companion's difficulty. The teen wasn't used to the extreme chilly weather conditions and being from the Land of Fire, didn't help the younger male either. Since he was practically an unlimited supply of Chakra, keeping warm wasn't an issue. However the smaller nin didn't have that advantage.

The two were nearly soaked to the bone when they discovered a cave in snow covered mountain. The cave was shallow enough to signify it wasn't a home to some creature and deep enough to provide them shelter form the cutting wind and snow.

Virtually dragging the ANBU Captain into the cave, Naruto checked the teen's vitals. The younger male was going through the second stage of hypothermia, because the teen was tinged blue, delirious and was violently shivering. Cursing mentally, the Jounin moved fast. Unsealing some scrolls that contained firewood he began a small smokeless fire. He then stripped the teen bare from his wet clothing and wrapped the shivering blonde in a thick blanket. Without wasting anytime the whiskered blonde stripped himself and curled up behind the teen with and rewrapped the blanket around them.

With the teen's smaller back to his chest, Naruto wrapped his larger body around the ANBU and faced the fire; allowing the flames thaw the teenagers frozen front as his body heat worked through the back. Recalling Baa-Chan's lecture on placing hypothermic suffers immediately in warm temperature, would send them into shock; Naruto sent a quick pray for the shivering to end soon, so he could at least begin his chakra to slowly warm the smaller male in his arms.

* * *

Minato broke through the haze of sleep quite slowly.

His entire body seemed stiff and strained, as if he went through a tedious work out but unlike the ache of the muscles being used, it felt as if they were frozen in place. This was an odd concept considering fact he was comfortably warm.

Recalling his memories, he remembered the whiteout he had to face and how the chill began to seep into his body to his core. The Captain also recalled the vague sensation of being dragged by his comrade. Mentally shivering at the recollection of the cold, the ANBU snuggled further into the cocoon of warmth he was currently in. At that motion, he began to feel what seemed to be arms tighten around him.

This woke the blonde up immediately.

Forcing his sleep induced eyes open, he took in the sight of a dying fireplace and through the dim lighting he could make out his clothes laid out on the floor.

His underwear included.

Feeling his heartbeat begin to accelerate, the teen tried to calm himself down. Sighting another set of discarded clothing that belonged to the other blonde and using his nervous system, the young ANBU came to the conclusion that there was somebody wrapped around him. Breathing deeply he caught the scent that only belonged to the whiskered jounin. Gently and slowly turning his head to verify his conclusion and was greeted with a lazy smile that was only worn by the one, Kazama Naruto.

"Finally sleeping beauty awakens."

The young ANBU Captain was caught between feeling pure bliss and gut wrenching embarrassment.

* * *

**Glossary**

Gi – Is the clothing article that is worn with the Hakama, as a top.

Hakama- Hakama is similar to trousers, which is tied over the Gi, at the waist and falls approximately to the ankles.

**A/N:** Well does this momentarily satisfy you? Was it worth the wait?... I sincerely hope so. When writing this, I was praying for humour in it to remain. I've been writing in a more serious tone, that my smart arse side has diminished. Hopefully it hasn't completely extinguished...

After updating myself with the manga, and the latest volumes have thrown me into a loop... There have been some curve balls thrown my way and due to my need to be accurate as possible with the cannon, has placed me with quite a fix. Thankfully its nothing too serious or something I cannot turn around, but I'll have to play safe so I don't become stuck, permanently... 'Cause going back and correcting some aspects in past chapters, is something I would like to avoid, greatly.

To abate your fears, I have no intention of abandoning this fic. I have the ending and plot figured out, even an epilogue/one-shot sequel which is slowly being created... So rest easy. Why this is taking so long is mainly due to waning interest, reality and writers block when it comes to development of the characters relationship along with middle section of the story (I have a start and an end, the middle is what stumps me).

Since all that's said and done, you guys know what to do, you have no idea how much feedback motivates me, so please by all means submit your comments, suggestion, opinions, correction and constructive criticism etc.


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